No, not a "new" one, just worded a little differently. Most of the government grant scams are along those lines. Good citizen, paid your bills, paid your taxes, never been arrested, etc.
And, some of the marks are so gormless, they apply for a payday loan to qualify for the "grant".
Then, when the grant does not appear, and the payday loan people get bothersome, the mark gets a title loan.
Then, when the calls get even worse, they see they qualify for a $5,000 loan online, even with bad credit, if they just send a few hundred bucks for the first payment ...
So, they figure they can get some of those "FREE $100 gift cards" that are offered by other callers, so they send the $4.75 each for a bunch of 'em, along with their debit card number, and quickly learn their debit account has been drained, and the cards either don't appear or are worthless.
Their car is towed by the title loan people, so they can't easily get to work, and they have to rely on public transportation... and when they can sit in a seat, they find somebody left their bubble gum on it, and the person sitting next to them likes to play "kneesies".
Eventually, they can't pay for their phone bill, lose phone service, and are never bothered again by phone scammers.
...
... until they get their Obamaphone, and all the minutes are used up by callers ... so they change their phone number ... and some poor slob gets their phone number when he changed his phone number.
Then, the "IRS" calls in the middle of the night (USA time), and the gormless one loses sleep, and "gets noticed" by their boss after falling asleep at work.
Hey there, friend, You say you lost your job today, and your daughter is going out with the IRS caller, and your Athlete's foot fungus just ate your shoes?
Is that what's troubling you, friend?
Lift your head up high and take a walk in the sun with that dignity and stick-to-it-iveness and you'll show the world, you'll show them where to get off, you'll never give up, never give up, never give up
I wonder, if Rod Serling were still here, if he would make a TV series based on some of these scams .... or, even better, "All In The Family", with Archie Bunker and the rest of the family, getting a scam phone call a day, and joining the Gormless Gathering.
Hey, that might almost work to educate some of the Gormless!
Could you really imagine Archie Bunker getting a call from one of the Indian IRS scammers? That would be classic. He would have to stop calling Micheal "meathead" and start calling the scammers that.