I received a call from East Indian sounding man telling me that I had won a US government grant for $1,500.00 (this was later corrected by his "supervisor" and was now $12,500.00. They already had substantial data on me and asked if I had paid my taxes and therefore would be eligible for this grant.
I became suspicious immediately, and the guy kept saying that I would soon be given an 8 digit # that would confirm this. I said that I didn't believe that this government would be giving out grants just like this. The man became confused and a fast-talking woman came on, also with a strong East Indian accent. She was asking me for my bank info, name and then routing #. She said that once the information was given I would be transferred to another person to get the (now) 7 digit code. (It kept changing!)
I stupidly gave the name of the bank at which point she says "grab your check book and be ready with the first numbers. I said that I did not believe that this could be legitimate if they ask for this on the phone. They could send it to me by mail and I would look it over, but the whole thing on the phone seemed wrong. She kept pushing, getting aggressive, as if I were stupid to pass up this "great" gift of a grant, and read off a list of 12 or so #'s and asked if they were the correct routing #'s. Somehow they have gotten the first 8 of those correct! How did they do this?
I knew then that it was not legitimate. I will instruct my bank about this call and hope they will be on the look out for any strange withdrawals. I will pass this on to my entire email list and encourage others to also do so.
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