At approximately 1:00pm, I received a call from a blocked number from a man claiming to be calling from US Federal Grant Money. He said that I was one of 1500 people who was chosen to receive $7,000 from the government on the basis that I had no criminal record, had not filed bankruptcy and some other criteria. He knew my name and mailing address. He did not ask to confirm any other details beside name, address and age. He briefly rehearsed the purpose and expectation of me receiving the grant money. He spoke with a heavy eastern (similar to Indian/Bengali) accent. He gave me a confirmation number (AG109) and another number (202.621.0436) to call for further instructions on how to go about collecting the grant. I called the number and a woman named Mary answered, asked for the confirmation and confirmed my name and mailing address. She then informed me that I should send $280 to a charity named Indo American Charity Foundation of Houston Texas as a prerequisite for receiving the grant. She told me to go to MoneyGram and to call her when I arrived so that she is able to provided assistance in me sending the $280 to the charity. I told her I would do no such thing and that I am going to take measures to seek to verify her claims. She became a bit frustrated and tried to convince me that this was not a scam. I ended the call. I called Moneygram and looked up the referenced charity online and called them after concluding the call with Mary.
I continued on the call so as to gain as much information as possible that might benefit anyone else who may receive such a call to judge whether or not they should proceed. This was the second such call I have received in six months from the same organization. It was interesting to note that despite the heavy accents, they all had American/English run of the mill names.
Thank you and beware.
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