Fraud
Complaint
Xavier Acuna
Country: United States
I got the same call from a man with a very thick Pakistani/Indian accent. They told me I had gotten approved for a grant of $8,500 and the reason for this is that each year the U.S Gov. Grant Dept. supposably selects 15,000 Americans who have not filed for bankruptcy in the last couple months and pay they're bills on time, which raised a red flag because I'm late on some bills. They asked wether I wanted it on a gift card or bank account, they gave me a grant approval # and call back # and told me to ask for Harry Ford, who then told me about a $180 donation through western union, and that he'd walk me through the process. After reading all these complaints it assured me that it was fraud, very similar stories.
Comments
he told me for receiving this grants I should go to the nearest Walmart and bring my ID , cell phone and $280 for registration fee and asked me to call him again after I received to the Walmart's Lot , and I told him sure in couple of hours , just wait for me ?!?! :)
The reason he gave for me being awarded the grant was hat I pay my bills on time and have a clean criminal record.
Today he called again. He seemed really disappointed that I had lost my credit card last week and am waiting for a new one, meaning I could not give him a card number. He offered to take my bank account/routing number and deposit it but I claimed to have left my checkbook at home. He offered to call back and I have "missed" 4 calls since. But the calls come from blocked numbers!
When I said I was concerned about giving out my bank account information (especially since tomorrow is the day my direct deposited paycheck goes in) as he'd already obtained my phone number, mailing address, knows I am employed, and asked me my age, though not my date of birth, he told me not to worry since the call was being recorded. How would that protect ME if THEY were running a scam. It isn't like I had a copy of the recording or even their phone number.
It also seemed odd that he kept saying the government was awarding these grants to "citizens". He used the word "citizen" so often it stuck out. He did not say "Americans" or "taxpayers" or "residents"... just "citizens".
Someone called me from an unknown number stating I was one of like 15k people selected by the government for some kind of grant. I would not have to pay back the 8.5k and was not accountable for taxes. They talked fast and was pushing for me to put out 200 bucks or so for a related fee. I didn't believe them from the jump but I played along for fun. I know that unless this was someone calling me for my lotto card, this ish was not real. Instant money from the government ...yea ok. Don't fall for this crap.