Coronavirus News: Online loan sharks targeting desperate businesses in cash crisis

ByEyewitness News WABC logo
Monday, May 4, 2020
Online loan sharks targeting desperate businesses in cash crisis
Greedy online loan sharks are targeting desperate consumers and small businesses that are running out of cash amid the coronavirus crisis.

NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- Greedy online loan sharks are targeting desperate consumers and small businesses that are running out of cash amid the coronavirus crisis.

U.S. Senator Charles Schumer said the loans advertised as "COVID-19 financial relief" actually come with interest rates of up to 800 percent.

He's calling for federal regulators to take action.

"Good agencies like the consumer financial board have been weakened over the last several years," Schumer said. "They need to be unthrottled. They need to go after these despicable, despicable loan sharks."

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