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Report suspected fraud to the inspector general (OIG) of the federal agency that administered or lost the money. For Small Business Administration (SBA) programs, use the SBA OIG Hotline. For FEMA assistance, use the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) OIG allegation form or call 1-800-323-8603; FEMA also accepts reports at StopFEMAFraud@fema.dhs.gov. Disaster-related allegations may also go to the Department of Justice National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF). Pandemic-response allegations can go to the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC), while general fraud and cybercrime can be reported to the FBI and IC3, respectively.

You can usually file anonymously or request confidentiality. A strong report is factual and chronological, identifies the program and people or businesses involved, explains how you learned what happened, estimates the loss if possible, and attaches lawfully obtained records. Preserve originals and avoid speculation.

Choose the right reporting channel first

Federal relief fraud is investigated by the agency responsible for the program, not by one universal hotline. Start by identifying the program named on the application, award letter, payment record, or government correspondence. Then select the channel that matches both the agency and the type of harm.

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Situation Primary channel Important details
SBA loan, grant, contracting, employee, or federal-fund misconduct SBA Office of Inspector General Hotline Use the SBA OIG online complaint system. Include the SBA program, accused person or entity, dates, narrative, and records.
Suspected FEMA disaster-assistance fraud DHS Office of Inspector General Use the DHS OIG online allegation form or call 1-800-323-8603.
FEMA-specific lead or document FEMA Fraud and Internal Investigation Division Email StopFEMAFraud@fema.dhs.gov or use the mailing address FEMA publishes for that division.
Fraud tied to a declared disaster or disaster-recovery money DOJ National Center for Disaster Fraud Use NCDF in addition to the responsible agency’s OIG when the conduct is disaster-linked.
Another federal grant, loan, or relief program The administering agency’s OIG Find the agency’s inspector general through the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) directory.
Pandemic-response funding Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) PRAC handles allegations involving pandemic-relief programs and funds; the program agency’s OIG may also have jurisdiction.
General criminal fraud not limited to one agency Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Use the FBI for general fraud when the conduct spans agencies or the responsible agency is unclear.
Internet-enabled theft, phishing, or digital payment fraud Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) Report the cyber component to IC3 and separately notify the affected agency or OIG.
Consumer fraud or identity theft affecting you personally Federal Trade Commission (FTC), local police, and the relevant agency Use the FTC for consumer-fraud or identity-theft assistance; contact local police or the sheriff when appropriate.

Submitting to more than one appropriate channel is reasonable when each office has a distinct role. Explain in each report where else you filed so investigators can coordinate and avoid treating duplicate submissions as separate events.

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Reporting SBA loan or grant fraud

Use the SBA OIG Hotline

The SBA Office of Inspector General says its Hotline is for fraud, waste, abuse, mismanagement, or misconduct involving SBA programs, operations, personnel, or federal funds. This includes suspected abuse of SBA relief loans and grants, false applications, identity-theft schemes, contract fraud, and misconduct by people connected with SBA operations.

  1. Open the SBA OIG online complaint system from the official SBA OIG website.
  2. Identify the program involved, such as the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL), a contracting program, or another SBA activity.
  3. Name the person, company, lender, contractor, or other entity involved. Add business addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, loan or application numbers, and other identifiers when you have them.
  4. Write a chronological narrative: what was represented, what appears false or improper, when each event occurred, and how the conduct affected the program or funds.
  5. Attach copies of records you obtained lawfully, keeping the originals in your possession.
  6. Choose whether to identify yourself, remain anonymous, or ask that your identity be treated as confidential, then submit the complaint.

The SBA system issues a complaint submission number. Keep it with your records; it can be used when you provide supplemental information. SBA OIG states that it does not provide hotline case-status updates, so the submission number is not a promise that you will receive progress reports.

What makes an SBA complaint actionable

Separate facts from conclusions. Instead of writing that a borrower is “obviously a criminal,” identify the statement on the application, the document that contradicts it, the date you obtained each document, and the amount or transaction affected. If you do not know the exact loss, say that it is unknown and provide the best supported estimate.

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Reporting suspected FEMA assistance fraud

Primary DHS OIG route

FEMA staff are required to report suspected fraud to the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General. Members of the public can use the DHS OIG online allegation form or call 1-800-323-8603. Describe the disaster, FEMA program, application or registration number if available, and the conduct you believe is fraudulent.

FEMA’s additional reporting options

FEMA lists StopFEMAFraud@fema.dhs.gov for fraud reports and publishes a mailing address for its Fraud and Internal Investigation Division. Use those channels when you have FEMA-specific information, documents, or a lead that should reach FEMA directly. A FEMA submission does not replace a DHS OIG report when the allegation concerns misuse of FEMA assistance; filing with both can ensure the information reaches the appropriate offices.

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Disaster-linked criminal conduct

The DOJ National Center for Disaster Fraud accepts allegations connected to disasters and disaster-recovery funds. Examples include false applications for disaster assistance, diversion of rebuilding money, fraudulent contractors, and schemes that use a disaster declaration to solicit victims. Include the affected disaster and identify the federal, state, local, or private entities involved.

Reporting fraud in another federal relief or grant program

Find the agency that administered the money

Look at the award notice, grant agreement, payment record, or agency correspondence. The agency named there generally has an OIG responsible for investigating fraud against its programs. DOJ explains that every federal agency has an inspector general whose duties include investigating fraud committed against that agency. The CIGIE directory is the central way to identify the correct OIG when the agency is not obvious.

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Use PRAC for pandemic-response funds

Allegations involving pandemic-response funding may be reported to PRAC. Identify the program, recipient, transaction, and dates, and also send the information to the program agency’s OIG when you can identify it. This dual approach is useful when money moved through several agencies or programs.

Use the FBI or IC3 for broader or cyber-enabled schemes

Report general fraud to the FBI when the conduct crosses agency boundaries, involves organized activity, or has no clear program OIG. If the scheme used phishing, a fake portal, account takeover, malware, cryptocurrency, or another online mechanism, report the cyber-enabled component to IC3 as well. A cyber report does not tell the affected agency that its relief funds were targeted, so notify that agency separately.

Prepare the complaint before you submit it

Build a fact-based chronology

Investigators can follow a dated sequence more easily than a long narrative organized by emotion or theory. Create a simple table for yourself before opening the form.

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Date or period Event People or entities Record supporting it What remains uncertain
Exact date, month, or date range Application, payment, conversation, or other event Names, business names, contact details, account or application identifiers Email, application, invoice, payment record, photograph, letter, or other file Missing date, amount, identity, or explanation

Use the date you know and label an estimate as an estimate. If a document has a timestamp, preserve it. Explain how you obtained each item and distinguish what you personally observed from what someone else told you.

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Include the core facts

  • Program: The precise SBA, FEMA, pandemic, grant, loan, or disaster program.
  • Subjects: Names and contact details of the people or businesses involved, including aliases, addresses, websites, phone numbers, and registration numbers when available.
  • Conduct: What was said or done, what appears false, and which requirement or payment was affected.
  • Time and place: Dates or date ranges, locations, relevant online platforms, and the jurisdiction involved.
  • Source of knowledge: Whether you witnessed the event, received a document, were told by another person, or inferred it from records.
  • Amount: The suspected loss, payment, loan, or benefit, with a qualification if the figure is approximate or incomplete.
  • Witnesses: Names and contact details of people who can confirm a fact, if you may lawfully provide them.
  • Prior action: Any notice to the agency, lender, police, employer, or program administrator and the response you received.

Attach useful records, not a data dump

Relevant supporting material can include emails, applications, payment records, invoices, photographs, letters, contracts, text messages, call details, and account statements. Name files clearly and describe what each proves. Keep an untouched copy of every original, including the original email or message file when possible. Do not alter screenshots to remove inconvenient context; redact only information that is unnecessary and could expose another person to avoidable harm.

Send only material you obtained lawfully. Do not break into an account, impersonate someone, intercept communications, or encourage a person to commit a new offense to gather proof. If you have classified information, do not place it in an ordinary online form or email. Follow the agency’s instructions for transmitting classified information.

Anonymous, confidential, and identified reports

Anonymous reports

Most OIG complaint systems allow an anonymous submission. You can describe the conduct without giving your name or contact details. The trade-off is investigative: staff cannot ask you to clarify a date, identify a file, explain a technical detail, or provide a missing record. An anonymous report should therefore contain as much specific, verifiable information as you can provide at the outset.

Confidential reports

A confidential report gives the OIG a way to contact you while requesting that your identity not be released. OIG confidentiality generally means the office will not disclose your name without your consent unless disclosure is legally unavoidable. It is not an absolute guarantee against every lawful disclosure, so read the form’s privacy statement and state clearly what protection you are requesting.

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Identified reports

Providing your identity makes follow-up easier and can allow investigators to ask for original records or a statement. It may also be necessary if you want victim assistance or need an agency to correct your own account. Give only contact information you can safely monitor and explain any retaliation or safety concern in the complaint.

What happens after filing

An OIG first reviews a complaint for relevance and completeness. It may refer the matter for an investigation, audit, inspection, evaluation, or another review, or refer part of it to a different agency. A referral is not a finding that fraud occurred, and the office may not disclose what action it takes.

Keep your submission number, copies of the form, attachments, and a log of later communications. If you discover a material new fact, use the agency’s supplemental-information process and reference the original submission. Do not repeatedly submit the same unchanged complaint; consolidate new information into one update when possible.

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Scams, identity theft, and immediate victim assistance

When someone used your identity

If a person used your name, Social Security number, tax information, bank account, or business identity to seek relief, report the program fraud to the responsible OIG and report the identity-theft or consumer-fraud aspect to the FTC. Contact your bank or other affected provider through its official channel, preserve account notices, and consider local police or the sheriff when appropriate.

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When a FEMA impostor contacted you

For a suspected FEMA scam, FEMA advises contacting local police or the sheriff when appropriate and using the FEMA Fraud Branch. You can also call the FEMA helpline for survivor assistance. Preserve the caller ID, email headers, text messages, payment instructions, and any website address without visiting a suspicious link again.

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When money is still moving

Tell the financial institution or payment service immediately through a verified contact method and ask what fraud-reversal or account-protection steps are available. This does not replace the OIG, FEMA, FBI, IC3, or police report; it addresses the separate need to protect funds and accounts.

Common mistakes that weaken a report

  • Choosing the wrong office: Sending a FEMA allegation only to a local office, or an SBA allegation only to a general consumer hotline, can delay routing. Name the program and notify its OIG.
  • Leading with a theory: “This is money laundering” is less useful than the transaction, date, account, and document that support your concern.
  • Omitting identifiers: A company name without an address, application number, loan number, email, or other identifier may be impossible to distinguish from similar entities.
  • Mixing facts with rumors: Label hearsay and explain its source. Do not present an unverified social-media claim as a firsthand fact.
  • Sending originals: Keep originals and submit copies unless an agency specifically instructs otherwise.
  • Uploading sensitive or classified material improperly: Use the agency’s secure or classified-information procedure instead of an ordinary form.
  • Expecting status updates: SBA OIG specifically says hotline case-status updates are not provided. Other offices may also limit disclosure.
  • Confronting the subject: Do not warn or threaten the person you are reporting, alter records, or take investigative action that could endanger you or compromise evidence.

Illustrative routing examples

A false PPP application

A former employee finds payroll records showing that a business claimed workers who did not exist when it applied for a PPP loan. The employee should report the suspected false application to the SBA OIG Hotline, identify the business and loan information, attach lawfully obtained payroll records, and explain which facts are firsthand.

A fake FEMA inspector requesting a fee

A disaster survivor receives a message from someone claiming to be a FEMA inspector who demands a payment to release assistance. The survivor should preserve the message and payment instructions, report the FEMA-related conduct to DHS OIG and FEMA’s Fraud and Internal Investigation Division, and contact local police or the sheriff when appropriate. If money or identity information was surrendered online, add an IC3 or FTC report as applicable.

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A grant diversion during a pandemic program

A nonprofit learns that a contractor redirected a pandemic-relief grant to unrelated personal expenses. The nonprofit should identify the grant-making agency and notify its OIG, send the allegation to PRAC when the funds are pandemic-response money, and use the FBI if the conduct spans agencies or appears to be a broader criminal scheme.

Quick submission checklist

  • Correct agency OIG or complementary channel selected.
  • Program name and award, application, loan, or registration number included.
  • Names, addresses, contact details, and other identifiers provided.
  • Chronology written with dates, locations, and sources.
  • Estimated amount and uncertainty clearly labeled.
  • Witnesses and prior corrective actions listed.
  • Attachments lawfully obtained, relevant, and described.
  • Original files preserved separately.
  • Anonymous, confidential, or identified status chosen deliberately.
  • Classified information excluded from ordinary forms and email.
  • Submission number and a copy of the complaint saved.

How much fraud has the SBA OIG hotline received?

The Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General recorded 10,364 hotline complaints during the reporting period April 1–September 30, 2025. The categories included PPP, EIDL, identity theft, contract fraud, and other complaints. This is a count of complaints received during that six-month reporting period, not a finding that every complaint represented proven fraud or a measure of total losses.

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