got a call saying i was getting a $9k govt grant from a man who barely spoke english. gave me this number to call back and speak to a man named ´Rex´. called and this man made it sound real good. then told me i needed to pay $274 to get my grant western union and the money would be refunded to me. asked him to verify some info before i just handed the money over. his ´verification´ was that he was calling from a recorded line. thats it. what a bummer. really could have used $9k. lol! no fees are attached to govt grants. when i told him this he didnt have an answer.
got a call saying i was getting a $9k govt grant from a man who barely spoke english. gave me this number to call back and speak to a man named ´Rex´. called and this man made it sound real good. then told me i needed to pay $274 to get my grant western union and the money would be refunded to me. asked him to verify some info before i just handed the money over. his ´verification´ was that he was calling from a recorded line. thats it. what a bummer. really could have used $9k. lol! no fees are attached to govt grants. when i told him this he didnt have an answer.
I just received a phone call from a lady I could barely understand saying that I was selected to receive a non repayable government grant for 9k. Before I called I sesrched google for any scams in the 202 area code and was very disappointed to find it was a scam. Really could"ve used that money seeing how I'm laid off.
Well let's see I received a call from the same number telling me to contact this phone number 202-864-1379 because I've been accepted to receive $9,000 from the US government. I was so excited and got all happy until I realize that it was a scam. I don't know how they got my number and that bugs me the most. I really could have used that money.
Since that is a Washington, DC number you should call them back and mess with them. The Federal Government closed all DC area offices at noon local time due to the approaching blizzard. These foreign scammers are unlikely to be aware of that. You could express surprise that they are still in their office and hope they don't get trapped there by the snow or worse get stuck on the way home and freeze to death.
Quote:I don't know how they got my number and that bugs me the most.
If you ever posted your name & phone number on a social site, or entered that info when ordering online, or otherwise typed it in an insecure computer, or gave it to a friend whose computer was attacked, or filled out an entry form at a fair or a supermarket, or used it on a contest entry form, or were among those whose information was hacked from some organization, or obtained a "new" phone number ... your name & number are probably known to the scammers.
There is also another, very sneaky way.
Does your phone have Caller ID + Caller Name display (CNAM)? If so, you have noted that it usually displays BOTH the phone number and the name of the person calling you. Some scammers take advantage of that, by getting a phone with a CNAM display, and then using a computer program to repeatedly call it. The computer program spoofs the calling number, and changes the calling number for each call. One of the spoofed numbers could be yours!
The result is, the receiving phone "sees" both the calling number and the name of the person who is registered with that number! The scammer harvests the name & number data, and sells it to other scammers.
~~~~~~~~
Please reply to this post, to let us know you read it, or have taken suitable actions to protect yourself.