Thank Heavens for your web site. Got the call from the East Indian sounding person with the $7,000 grant. Was pretty sure it was a scam and also thought it might be one of those numbers that when you call they start costing one big money by the minute. Hadn't planned on calling, but went along with the first caller. He sounded quite excited by my response. How disappointed he will be when I don't call back.
Gentleman with very thick accent called, couldn't hardly understand him. Said his name was Jake Brown, said he was with the US Federal Government Grant program and that I was selected for $7000. Gave me a grant ID and said I had to call back to this number. When I told him I was at work he kept insisting that we weren't finished.
It is a scam.
The government does not offer grants to individuals for personal use.
It is a scam ran by off shore con artists to trick you into sending unrecoverable money to them.
They will say you need to get prepaid money cards, like Green Dot and load them with you own money or to wire transfer funds via companies like Western Union for fees or tax. Once you give the details from the card to the scammer, they clean out the card. Once you wire transfer money, you can not recover it.
You loose your money, you get nothing.
The only legitimate avenue for government grants is through www.grants.gov which is the official US government web site for grants.
From their FAQ concerning fraud:
http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/support/general-support/grant-fraud.html
Please note the following:
No government grant-making agency will make phone calls; send email or letters to solicit money or personal banking information from a potential grant recipient.
There are no processing fees for federal grants.
Federal grants are not issued for personal use, but are intended for institutions and non-profits to carry out projects with a public purpose.
Know who you're dealing with on the web. Scam artists will often post a website with a name similar to a legitimate site.
If you have provided personal banking information to anyone claiming to be associated with a Federal grant agency, call your bank immediately to prevent unauthorized access to your account.
If you receive a call, mail, email, FAX, or any other form of communication soliciting you for a grant, STOP.
It is a scam.
Report it to the FTC:
http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0113-government-grant-scams
File a complaint with the FTC. If you think you may have been a victim of a government grant scam, file a complaint with the FTC online https://ftccomplaintassistant.gov/ , or call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357); TTY: 1-866-653-4261. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure online database available to hundreds of civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad.
Ask them to stop calling and they refuse and keep calling. I ask to speak with a supervisor and a Jack Brown identified himself as the supervisor and argued with me about refusing to take me off their calling list. I ask if he was affiliated with the United States government and he advised me he was and their call back number is 213-218-1547.