Sophisticated fraud and scam attempts are on the rise in connection with federal Small Business Administration loans. If you are considering applying or are in the process of applying for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) or Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL), please keep the following tips in mind:

The SBA does NOT initiate contact with small businesses on any type of funding. If you are proactively contacted by someone claiming to represent the SBA, suspect fraud.

If you are contacted by someone who promises to get you approval of an SBA loan but requires ANY payment up front or offers a high interest bridge loan, suspect fraud.

The SBA has limits on the fees a broker can charge a borrower:

3% - loans $50,000 or less

2% - loans $50,000 to $1,000,000

An additional 1/4% on amounts over $1,000,000

Any attempt to charge more than these fees is inappropriate and should be reported.

Keep an eye out for phishing attacks/scams utilizing the SBA logo. These may be attempts to obtain your Personally Identifiable Information (PII), or to install ransomware/malware on your computer.

If you are in the process of applying for an SBA loan and receive email correspondence asking for PII, ensure that the referenced application number matches your actual application number.

Any email coming from the SBA will come from an email account ending in sba.gov.

The presence of the SBA logo on a website does NOT guarantee the information is accurate or endorsed by the SBA. Cross-reference any information you receive with the information available at www.sba.gov.

Please report any suspected fraud at the following:

Office of Inspector General (OIG) Hotline: 800-767-0385

Online at https://bit.ly/35hWaK0.

<!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Arial; panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:647 0 0 0 159 0;} @font-face {font-family:Times; panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;} @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:Georgia; panose-1:2 4 5 2 5 4 5 2 3 3; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:647 0 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-indent:10.1pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:9.5pt; font-family:Georgia; mso-fareast-font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language:JA;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} -->

Help keep St. Lawrence County informed 

Until now, advertising has provided the income to pay our news staff. But with a cutback in advertising due to the COVID-19 crisis, our ability to continue free news coverage is threatened.  Please donate to NorthCountryNow.com and North Country This Week so we can keep St. Lawrence County informed.  Thank you.