I received a phone call from a man on 2/14/06, who asked for me by my nickname instead of my legal name. He stated that he was calling from "The Grant Processing Center of U.S." and that I name was part of a group of people who overpaid federal taxes between 2000 & and were eligible to receive refunds back in the form of a government grant (totalling approximately $12,000). He had an Indian accent and said his name was Justin Parker, ID# 43404. He said their phone number is 1-800-410-1682.
He asked me if I had paid taxes between 2000 & to which I said yes. He then asked me if I believed that I qualified for this grant refund. I asked him to clarify and he said "if you paid taxes during that time, then you would most likely be qualified for a grant refund, yes?". So I answered "yes" to that question, as well.
He then told me that, in order for me to receive this grant refund, he would need to verify my mailing address, which he had correct. He then asked me if I had a checking account (which I do), and if it was in the same city as my residence. I answered yes and gave him the name of the bank, which had been bought out by another bank in mid 2005 (and no longer exists). He said I would be receiving a form in the mail and that I should complete it (indicating my checking account number) and send it back to the address provided; that as soon as they received the form, they would transfer the grant refund to my checking account.
THEN, he asked me to give him my account number over the phone after he told me that he already had the routing number for my bank. I told him I was confused, since he just told me that I would receive the grant refund after they received the form with my account number on it. He started to go into explanation so I just told him that I did not have the information handy and that he'd have to call back the next day at the same time. He tried to get me to give him the account information THAT DAY, saying he would call back in 15 - 30 minutes, so I would have time to either call home, or go home to get the information, since I was at work.
The other funny thing about the whole phone call was the fact that I file taxes using my legal name, but he kept calling me by my nickname.
So today (the day after the phone call), I get online and search for this company and I got this "complaint" site. After reading "Jackie's" story on your website, I thought I'd tell my story, too, since I got names and numbers. Justin Parker has been calling me (as I instructed him to) all day, but I did not answer my phone.
Incidentally, I called the 800 number and a recording came on saying "you are number 2 in line, a representative will be with you shortly". I didn't stay on the phone, but hung up instead.
I DO believe this is a scam because the Internal Revenue Service handles any tax refunds or collection of back taxes for American taxpayers.
If you have any advice for me, please e-mail back.
Thank you for your time
0 comments