Today I got a cell call from a man supposedly named Allen Lee of Advantage America, Florida. He informed me that I was approved for a government grant of 12,500 dollars, and that the money would be in my personal checking account two days from now.
This all seemed fishy to me because every SINGLE thing I've ever gotten from the government has been given to me via US mail; NOT over the phone (And especially not over my cell phone).
I asked a ton of questions because while I didn't want to be scammed, I also didn't want to pass up the possibility that the grant was real. Finally, Allen said that all I needed to do was give him my checking information and the money would be placed in my account for me.
I didn't like this - and a few other things made me tingle all over as well. This guy knew my name, my address, and my bank's name already - and apparently my cell phone #. I gave this guy a h*llstorm of questions before hanging up - then I called my bank.
The rep I spoke to explained that the safest possible thing to do under this circumstance would be to close my account and reopen a new one. Shortly after speaking with Allen, I rushed to the bank and took care of things.
I just want to tell everyone who might read this report that AA is clever but totally readable. Like the Feds really need over-the-phone-verification to send you a check. And why would the Feds wire the funds and not just send you the check through the mail?
Flippin' ridiculous... I'm out for blood just for AA even TRYING to scam me. My advice to everyone who's even been called by these people is to just close your checking account and reopen a new one if it's not of great difficulty. It's just the safest thing to do.
By the way - the IP address for their website pings back to some Canadian address in Montreal. Florida... Pfft...
Peace
0 comments