I got a call from an 800 # stating i was picked for a 1 time us government grant of $7000.00, given a confirmation # and was told to call Jess Denver at that same # to have him verify info and have the 7 grand in my account within 30-40 minutes. when it wasnt there the next morning he gave me a tracking # and told me to call the federal reserve bank at 646-502-8602. After a few rings my call went to voicemail and it was a guy who stated his name was Nick Freeman and did not identify being with the bank at all. He said to leave a message and "if your call is important to me" i'll call you back. i hung up and called the police. Fat lotta good they did though, they get like 3000 calls a year on these scams. Nothing they can do. Well, someone needs to stop this, thats for sure. I stupidly lost $122.00 in this scam cuz im just too trusting, but not anymore! Definately learned my lesson well.......
Government Grant Scams
Although government grant scams have been around almost as long as the government itself, the majority of the sites being advertised today didn't exist before the November 2008 election.
FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION WEBSITE
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/alerts/alt134.shtm
‘Free Government Grants’: Don’t Take Them For Grant-ed
excerpt
Don’t give out your bank account information to anyone you don’t know. Scammers pressure people to divulge their bank account information so that they can steal the money in the account. Always keep your bank account information confidential. Don’t share it unless you are familiar with the company and know why the information is necessary.
Don’t pay any money for a “free” government grant. If you have to pay money to claim a “free” government grant, it isn’t really free. A real government agency won’t ask you to pay a processing fee for a grant that you have already been awarded — or to pay for a list of grant-making institutions. The names of agencies and foundations that award grants are available for free at any public library or on the Internet. The only official access point for all federal grant-making agencies is www.grants.gov.
Look-alikes aren’t the real thing. Just because the caller says he’s from the “Federal Grants Administration” doesn’t mean that he is. There is no such government agency. Take a moment to check the blue pages in your telephone directory to bear out your hunch — or not.
Phone numbers can deceive. Some con artists use Internet technology to disguise their area code in caller ID systems. Although it may look like they’re calling from Washington, DC, they could be calling from anywhere in the world.