Got the same call. Offer of $9000 grant from federal government. I said no way the feds are giving away $9000. He reassured me it was REAL! I replied "since you are so adamant about giving away $9000, donate it to the American Red Cross in my name. My name is Uncle Sam by the way." Promptly hung up on me! How rude! lol
they said the US government has $5,000 grants to give away for free and I qualified for one. I could not understand what she said after that and told her sure but I don't know what you said. And she hung up on me. She was very difficult to understand.
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 had a call from the same number. The caller wanted to give me a one time cash grant for paying my bills on time. The monies available could be transferred to my bank account or loaded onto my plastic cards. I said, plastic and when he asked what type of card it was, I then stopped "playing along" and hung up on them.
Can't believe in this climate caller from 425-206-8546 expects me to believe him that I won $9,000 from the Federal Government! Who falls for scams like that nowadays? These criminals need to be investigated and prosecuted