The problem was that the lack of controls meant it was so easy for the fraudsters to set up situations where they would get the money and not face the repercussions.

We saw the same thing with unemployment--the system got overwhelmed so they quit checking and the result was a lot of identity thieves collected unemployment for workers who weren't actually unemployed. (Of course the real problem is the unemployment system has been deliberately kept dysfunctional because that reduces the amount they have to pay out.)