Jul 12, 2016
I received a call from a number that showed up as unavailable. I was expecting a call from my bank, which always shows up unavailable, so I answered it. I was surprised to hear a gentleman on the phone with a very thick eastern accent, who did not introduce himself, but claimed to be working for the U. S. Government to offer grants to people that pay their taxes on time, do not have a criminal background, etc. I was eligible for over $11,000 with this grant. (Yeah, right! We all know they don't call to offer you free money!) He said he only needed to ask me a few questions to verify that I was eligible. He recited my name, phone number, and zip code to me, correctly. He asked my employment status and what my purpose would be with the cash. Of course, he says that I was verified to receive the funds. He asked me for a bank account/credit card number to use to deposit the funds on to, within 1 to 2 hours, and the funds are only available today. I refused to give him that information, of course, so he said we could do Western Union. There was a security fee of $220 for the transaction and that the money was coming from Bank of America. He would not give me his name, his company's name, the name of the grant that I supposedly qualified for, the "account manager"'s name (who he was forwarding my information to for final processing), a call back number for him, or anything. He did provide me with a reference code to give the "account manager" when I called him/her directly on the number that I am reporting. I did not call this number, but it is linked to some serious fraudulent activity. At one point he associated himself with the www.grants.gov website, who said they do not call anyone over the phone to offer grants, or ask for personal banking/card info, and certainly do not charge fees. She gave me the phone number for the Federal Trade Commission, where I called and filed a formal complaint.