App-based financial service firms like PayPal and Square have revolutionized how American consumers and businesses move money around—and now, they're being blamed for COVID-19 relief fraud.
Yes, really. In a congressional report published last week, lawmakers on the Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis say widespread fraud in the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which was supposed to pay shuttered businesses to keep employees on the payroll during the pandemic, should spur calls for new regulations on so-called "fintech" companies.