I was called by a private name/private number at about 4pm central standard time at my home number. When I answered the phone I was first greeted by a man then immediately greeted by a woman as if there were two parties on the line. The woman had a foriegn accent that was extremely difficult to understand.
I had to keep asking her to repeat herself.
She had called to tell me that myself along with 4000 other individuals had been selected to recieve a government grant in the amount of $8000.00 to spend as I wish. She further stated she would be sending me a form in the mail that I would need to fill out and return saying how I planned to spend the money. She then went on to ask me some personal information such as age, citizenship and so on.
Then she mentions that in order to recieve this grant and use it to my benefit that I would be charged a processing fee of $247.99. Furthermore, she states that in order to ensure that the grant funds are going to be transferred into the correct account that she needs my bank routing number and my checking account number which will verify I am who I say I am. She then continues to tell me that they are in good standing with the Better Business Bureau and that no funds will be drafted from my account without my authorization.
This is where I draw the line. The fact that there were already questionable things taking place had me leery in the first place. Such as the Private name/Private number on my caller Id, the sound of two voices on the line, the foriegn voice and the too good to be true $8000.00 grant to spend as I wish. Since when has the government ever given anything for free?
However, I proceeded to tell her I did not feel comfortable giving out my banking information to any stranger on the phone and that she could send me a form that I could fill out if I wished. She then tried to tell me that she understood and that they were in good standing with the better business bureau and that I give this information out everytime I shop and use a check in public. She reiterated the fact that no funds could be withdrawn from my account without my authorization. She kept mentioning the money I would recieve from the grant trying to convince me that this was completely safe. When I told her that I would not do this she then directed me to the BBB.org website and asked if it would be okay to call me back after I took a few minutes to view the site.
I have viewed the site, which may I add doesn't really tell you anything and I then went to search the web for more info and landed here. I have read everything that has been posted on this site and am relieved I didn't ignore my gut instinct. I am sorry to read about the loss of others and felt it was my duty to add my input about what looks to be another scam by this company. I hope this helps someone else before it's too late.
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