This is the latest in a new round of incoming spammer-scammer calls where a city name shows up on the caller ID instead of the caller's real identity which is always masked with these kind of calls. This one said "Centralia, WA.". These calls have been coming from all over the country and are always some kind of spam telemarketing and/ or phishing scam or some scam to get people to give them access to their computers so they can infect them as they see fit.
The caller told me I qualified for a Federal grant of $7,000.00. They asked how I would like to receive my money by direct deposit to a bank account of my choice (how nice of them) on to a credit card or cash. I said cash just to see what they would ask for next. They told me it would be sent to me via Western Union. Gave me a claim # CH589 asked me to call back immediately to different phone # 1. 239.719.1670. I did they then told to collect my grant I needed the claim # and a $210.00 deposit to secure the grant. When I told them no that the point of grant money was that you don't pay for it. They asked again for a deposit I said no thank you this is a BS scam.
i just got this scam. when i asked them why i needed to make a deposit to the federal grants department they said it was to secure my acccount info but i was sending it to them by western union. i told them that does not verify anything from my account since it was being done by western union and why does the federal government who is giving me a grant that does not have to be paid back and has no taxes need my $220.00. the girl on the phone then tried to say alot of nonesense to lose me in garble.