Where is this call coming from? Same message that all u have to do is send $235.00 for processing and u would recieve $7000.00 in 10 minutes. By the Government. Is this a scam?
I got a call on my cell phone from an unavailable number. The caller told me he would give a phone number and more information after I gave him my banking information. He refused to give me any info until I gave him my banking info. Stupid me I gave him my banking info. He told me I had been selected for a grant of $7,000 from the US government. He told me his name was Jonathan. He then gave me a phone number to call which was 509-477-9955. When I called this number I got a recording that had the phone number 540-650-4345 in it. When I was about to leave a message I got a call from someone. They didn't tell me their name until I asked for it. They said there name was Chester Austin. I asked them if this was a scam and the caller got a little upset with me telling me if I didn't want this grant money I didn't have to take it. Then the caller preceeded to tell me I needed to wire them $249 through Western Union in order to process the $7,000 grant. I asked why would the government make you pay money on a grant? The caller reassured me that the $249 would be given back to me with the $7,000. I felt as if this was a scam so I ended the call. YOU DON'T HAVE TO PAY MONEY TO GET GRANTS. THATS WHY THEY'RE GRANTS... THEY ARE FREE. SO I HOPE NO ONE FALLS VICTIM TO THIS SCAM!!!! I got a hold of my bank right away and they said they'd put an alert on my account. Don't be stupid like I was and give out your account information!!!
My caller said he was Alex, from the U.S. Dept of Grants, and they wanted to award me $7000 because I pay my bills and taxes, and have no criminal record. All they wanted was my bank account info or a credit card number so they could transfer the money today. Or, I could call this number to talk to Alex's supervisor and find out how to get my grant. Instead I googled the number and found a bunch of sites like this one with similar experiences. I'm going to call my local newspaper next, so they can print a warning; too many people fall for phishing scams like this. That's why they keep doing it!
I forgot to also mention that google also brought up several sites which identified the owner of this number as being a Durosene Joseph Mersudson, Address: Delmas 33 Prolonge 8, Tel 509 477 9955, Port Au Prince, Haiti. I never knew we had a Dept of Grants operating out of Haiti!