A woman called me earlier today under the name Maggie (customer ID: 14327) claiming she worked for a company called Advantage America Grant Department.
She went through a long winded speech about what her company was about, and for a while I must say I was quite sold on the idea of getting some grant money — after all I'm in college and I could use the extra money.
Maggie stated that being over the age of 18 that I qualified for this grant which would be at a minimum of $9,000 to a maximum of $12,000. At that point a red light in my head thought it was a little too simple to automatically be accepted with that amount of money for a grant.
Maggie then told me to tell me what bank I use and where it was located. I did that and she gave me the bank number for my area which I verified was correct. Afterwards she asked me for my account number, which I immediately declined to do. The woman got somewhat rude and pushy, telling me that they were ligit and that it was all very secure.
Anyone who shops over the internet knows that giving out your account number gives direct access into your account. I've used Pay Pal more than enough times to know this information.
I asked to speak with her superior about the information that she wanted, with that she put a man onto the phone. He was much more pushy with me than Maggie was. He told me that they were "just asking for my account number" and that it wasn't like they were asking for my credit card information. I tried to deny them nicely, but this man kept pushing and pushing.
I asked questions like "What do I have to do for this money?" which stumped them because I know that most places that offer you grant money wants you to donate your time to your community for so many hours, etc.
Finally I told the man that I wanted to think about it. He said I could do so and that I could call back at a later date with my decision — however he STILL asked for my account number saying that they'd have it pending until I decided! After hearing that I said I wanted nothing to do with them and that I wanted to end this conversation because I knew something wasn't right with them. The man on the other end of the phone snapped and said, "Fine. Then can I have your grant money?"
I responded with "... What?"
He repeated "Can I have your grant money? Can I take your name and take your grant money?"
Oi, at that part I couldn't take it anymore and said, "Yeah, sure. Whatever." and hung up.
Don't give them your information. Just don't.
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