My boyfriend received a phone call this morning (half asleep from taking care of our baby all night) and was told by "Stephen Smith" (had a thick accent. I think it was Indian) he got a $10,000 grant ONLY if he got a "GreenDotMoneyPak" with $200 to send to them to register for the Federal Reserve Bank and that "Stephen" would only be in the office for a few more hours, so it had to be done right away. With my boyfriend being half asleep, he told him his card information and shortly after called me once he realized his mistake in giving his Visa information so I could fix it. I called my bank right away, then went on to call "Stephen" to figure out what all he had told my boyfriend. His scam was "I do everything over the phone for you. You go to an A.T.M. to check and see your money is in there so I'll need access to your accounts. You can't tell any 3rd party about this or they will tax you on your $10,000 so you have to wait till after it's deposited to share any information. I'm from the U.S. Federal Grant Department so if any of this goes wrong on your end I get fired so you KNOW you can trust me. So when will you have the $200 for me?" I was amazed by half the stuff this man had told me. Seriously, "Stephen"?? When I told him I was calling for my boyfriend he INSTANTLY knew who I was talking about. How would he know without me giving him any names or anything when he's been "making these calls all morning" to let the "lucky people" know? Please don't fall for this, people. I had to spend half my work day making calls before they could access my account and steal my money because of a simple mistake made.
Received a call from Ronald and said that I have won a federal grant from the government and asked for all my personal info. Then told me to call 202-738-1370 to claim my grant. When I called I asked him the address and that's when he sound unsure and he also gave me an address that does not exist. So I googled the # and the phone was mot from a government agency, it was priced registered to Ronald, no last name or anything else. I told hime that what he was doing was illegal and that I was going to repor him. His voice was nervous , then he hang the phone. He had a oriental accent. Be careful with those guys. he gave me also a 800-111-3344 and does not exist.
This morning i received a call claiming i had been chosen by the US grants department to receive 9,800 i thought this was grand at first because I've recently applied for a couple grants for school this semester. But then Ron Jackson I'm assuming a fake name started asking me for my name i commented "If you guys chose me shouldn't you have my name?". He replied your phone number had been chosen so instantly knew it was SCAM . So i played along giving them all the info they wanted of course using fake stuff to protect myself. Then at the end i nicely said i sure hope this is burner phone because my father is a US marshal an sure is going to love hearing about this. They instantly hung up. So beware my friends low life's are all over trying to steal your money!!
I lost $2,400 in Greendot Money Cards for this blatant scam call. Watch out for a man with an Asian accent claiming to be a government grant agency worker! Learn my lesson!
• There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.
• If it sounds (or looks) too good to be true, it probably is.
• You have not won big bucks from a benign benefactor, a pot of pesos from PCH, dinero from a doctor, or a grant from a gracious government <<<<<<<<<<<<<<
• The tooth fairy really does not exist
• Everything you read on the internet is not necessarily true.
• It is illegal to ask for money for a loan or prize, before awarding the loan or prize!
• "Free Trips" are loaded with mandatory & costly extras, and you usually must give them your card number after listening to a loooong spiel at a hotel.
• Microsoft or one of their agents did NOT cold call you to fix your computer.
• The moon is not made of green cheese.
• The IRS will snailmail you, rather than phone you, if there is a problem.
• Jackalope milk is not an aphrodisiac.
• If you "green dot", MoneyGram or Western Union money to a scammer, the money is gone. <<<<<<<<<
• You should beware of Greeks bearing gifts, specially if the gift is a wooden horse with termites.
More information on those scams (and others) may be found at
http://phonehelp.2truth.com/facts_rev.html
Remember to return here, to 800notes.com, after you look at any of the information at that site, either to post more information, or to let us know you avoided the scam.