I was contacted today June 11 by a representative of Secured Grant Processing Center offering me a $5000 government grant on the basis of my payment of taxes. He said his name is "Oscar Davis, ID# 0246, " but he had a thick Indian accent.
I told him that I am on a fixed income and could not make any financial commitment. He told me that if I decided not to apply for the grant I could call their toll-free Customer Service number and cancel the order prior to the date the payment of $249.95 is to be processed.
Since it sounded legitimate, I agreed to receive the paperwork, thinking I could review the information and cancel the order before the payment processing date. The representative then asked me to verify my address information (all of which was correct, although I had not provided that information!) and my bank account number (but not the routing number, although he asked for the name of the bank).
He then transferred me to the verifier, a female by the name of Jennifer, who verified the information and provided me with a confirmation number and the toll-free customer service number. When I asked her when I should expect the application, she told me within 7-10 business days, which I then realized would be later than the date the payment was to be processed!
After the conclusion of the call, I called the Customer Service number but there was no answer.
I then searched online for the business and a reverse number lookup for the toll-free number (there is no listing for the number) but the consumer complaints revealed numerous reports of this activity occurring under similar names.
Obviously, I will be contacting my bank as soon as possible tomorrow to prevent my account from being accessed!
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