I applied for a grant online at www.grants. Gov thinking that was safe. I had heard that women might be eligible for small business start up grants that would not have to be paid back. I received a call from Kim Brown with the Grant office in Washington DC. She told me I was approved and would need to fill out a 9 page contract. Once that was approved by the federal government, I would receive a grant near the end of February. She referred me to a Certified Grant Writer. Nexus Financial in Florida. I called and left a message. The next day I received a call from Rick Allen. Very nice, very professional and took care to walk me through everything step by step. It all seemed legit. I had to pay the grant writer. That didn't seem odd to me. To pay someone for their services is normal. So I sent a certified cashier's check with return receipt in the amount of $490.00. They received it because I got the return receipt. My 9 page contract was supposed to come in the mail. It didn't. It was due this week. 12/5 thru 12/9. I called every day last week and left messages with Rick Allen. No return phone call. Today I called every department at every extension and got voicemail. I had researched Rick Allen. I had researched Grant Fraud. I had researched Nexus Financial. Nothing I found led me to believe this was a scam. Even the BBB gave Nexus Financial an A rating. How on earth did they do that? When I searched the name Kim Brown, that's when I started seeing scam notices online. My heart sank. I realized for sure that I had been scammed. Their phone number is still active. I want to shout to the world not to fall for this! I am a radio personality and I will tell my listening audience what happened to me and at least save them. But I can't save the entire country. So the only way I can get the message out is to report it on every scam website that I can, hoping that someone will see this and avoid the same mistake I just made. The Government does not give grants to small business start-ups or expansions. They do have some for medical, educational and a few other categories. But not random small businesses. This was a good scam. I am normally pretty cautious. But they got me. I had the American dream and they got me for it. Sucker. That's me.
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