Scam. Recognized it before he finished the first sentence. I let him go through his whole script and interrupted him near the end of every sentence stating I couldn't understand him, but was I very interested. He was obviously getting frustrated with me. He finally gave up after 4-5 minutes. That's 4-5 minutes he won't be able to bother other folks. The "No Call List" and the FCC are totally useless. It's called Scam Baiting and the only tool we have by getting them so discouraged, they find another source of income.
I also received a call from this number - a woman with an Indian accent told me I had been selected to receive a $9200 grant from the United States Federal Grants Department, even though she didn't even know my name!! She said it was not a loan that I would have to pay back. I hung up and called the number back to see who would answer - it was a man with an Indian accent answered the phone "United States Federal Grants Association". I then hung up again. How do these people get away with this - what a SCAM!! How can these people be reported and stopped if they are using virtual phone numbers? I pray that the elderly will somehow figure out they should hang up!
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. 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.
I wouldn't put it past our government to have people from a foreign country handle distributions of federal money but seriously, I got the call from (315) 696-1315 informing me that I will be receiving a federal grant of $9,200 and all I have to do is call 646-563-2732 and give them a reference number I was also provided. I won't be calling first off because I did not apply for a federal grant nor do I want one, but of course this is an obvious scam and these people are obviously criminals.