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Government Grant Scams |
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Below is a tiny sample of the hundreds and hundreds of complaints we receive about the many versions of this scam. It does no good to list all of the names used by these bunko artists because a.) they change all the time and b.) every single free-money government-grant offer is a scam. Period. Sharon of West Columbia, SC August 25, 2009 I was offered a federal government grant for 7,000 which was suppose to be deposited in my bank account after I Western Union 99 overseas in support the Cherokee charity. The caller identified himself as J. Williams, government grant supervisor Roxanne of Coos Bay, OR August 21, 2009 In January of 2009 I was contacted by Howard Stelman "American Public Grant Consulants" in regards to a online request I had done for imformation on grants for home owners to help fix up our home and get caught up on our mortgage payments, Mr Stelman said I would need to send in a total of 385.00 for there service what they call "The Program" I explained to Mr Stelman that I did not have to full 385.00 he told me I could sent in 200.00 now and the balance of 185.00 he told me I could cancell at anytime before recieving "The Program" he faxed me a copy of there Money Back Guarantee and Disclosure after I sent in the whole amount of 385.00 I contacted Mr Stelman he then told me in about 2 weeks I would be recieving "The Program" by UPS it is now August 20th and I have never received anything I have written a letter requesting my 385.00 back I have called requesting my 385.00 back according to there Money Back Guarantee I can cancel at anytime before recieving "The Program" which I have never recieved and I have not recieved my 385.00 back I have even contacted the BBB in there state and filed a complaint with them the BBB has tried contacting them and I was told has received not communcation from them either. One more thing when you call there phone number its seems to be a answering service or something like that they take your name and phone and your told someone will call you back I was told by Mr Stelman before all communcation stopped that I quailfied for 65,000.00 for home improvements and another 25,000.00 to help us get caught up on our mortgage payments which would of been a god send to us unforunately we were taken advantage of. Carol of Kenwick, Australia July 31, 2009 I am an Australian Citizen living in Australia. Recieved 2 emails stating I may be eligible for a US Gov. Grant.of between 25,000 & 50,000. After the first replied to say I was not and stated the facts. Recieved another the next day worded differently but the same message. Both emails included a link which took me to a very elaborate webpage. All this happened around the end of June. Don't know how they had my email address to beggin with. There is a charge on my credit card statement for July under the heading fedgrantusa com of 10.28 AU including overseas TXN fee of 0.31c. Did not purchase anything and DID NOT FORWARD any credit card details as I do not qualify in any case. Mostly an annoyance but am angry my credit card details have been appropriated [somehow] without my knowledge. Am very concerned about this. One charge only has appeared...so far...how can I stop further charges? Debbie of Piney Flats, TN July 13, 2009 Grants for NGO's phoned me indicating I had been approved for a 4500.00 cash grant. I had to send 89.00 via Western Union to get my money. I sent it - then they wanted 137.00 to cover the taxes for the 4500.00. I did not send that. They are still calling me each and every day. Had to send the money order twice, 89.00 their fee plus the 10 Western Union fee, for a total of 198.00 that I'm out. I am unemployed and I think this really sucks that people would do this. If I won, why can't they just send me a check? They say they are with the Department of Human Services! Mary of Xenia, OH July 10, 2009 Congratulations!!! You've been randomly selected for Govt Grant of 20,000. To claim the Grant, you need to get in touch with our Client Support (Approvals Department) Yahoo Messenger: grantsapproval1 AOL Messenger (AIM) : grantsapproval1 You only have 24 hours to apply. Regards, Ricky Johnson, Govt Grant Foundation, Washington DC 20405 No consequences occurred, I KNEW this was a scam. But I don't think others might not pick up on it. I just wanted you to be aware of this e-mail. Vicky of Emporia, KS July 10, 2009 I bought (I thought) a Grant Professional 1.99 cd. they carged my account 59.95, when I called they said they would refund the money, I still haven't recieved the refund, then I check my account again and find out that two other companies have my bank account number and are taking out an additional 12.95 and 19.95, and that it is in the terms and agreements. Monika of Lombard, IL July 8, 2009 I have received a phone call from this number, to order a CD for 1.95 to help to write a a letter to the gov. for grant money. They charged me on my card, and said that it will arrive in 3-5 days, and that I have 7 days trial to use it, then they will charge 69.99 for their services. Meanwhile, I suppose to receive an e-mail with my password to use it right away, until the package comes. Of course I never received any email, or disc, even if I called them, and asked three times. I finally cancelled my account; however they were asking many questions, and made it difficult to cancel. amie of yale, MI June 26, 2009 My husband went on the website grantfundingsearch (aka mysearch4grantsandfunding) typed in name and address with his phone number, when it came to the credit card info, he backed out of it. The following day we were contacted by this company by a #2202 Nola Garcia. I had numerous questions about the program and decided to go ahead and do it. I gave her my information ( including my credit card #), she then gave me my confirmation # and told me that we would have an email with our user name and password with in 24 hours. Well that time passed, so I called, and low and behold, they have no record of me or my husband. I spent a total of 18 hours trying to solve this problem between 2 days, with no results. I spoke with so many people and made sure I got all their employee #'s. was told many times that I could not speak to a supervisor. Placed on hold forever by everyone of them, and still got nowhere. They keep asking for my credit card # over and over again, and I refused to give it to them. They all told me, they can not help if I do not give them my card #. I told them I had a transaction #, and to contact their billing dept with that # and find it from there. Still nothing. So I can not cancel my subscription with them due to they do not have my information, and I am waiting to see if my credit card will be charged again. James of New Baden , IL June 25, 2009 I was just contacted by a telemarketer (for lack of a better description) who claimed to be a representative of the federal government. He told me that I had been selected to receive a 25.000.00 grant. I became suspicious when he started asking for personal information and started asking allot of questions. He said his name is W. Smith (spoke with an indian accent) and that he was not with a private company but with a federal government office in Atlanta GA. The information he wanted to get from me "to verify my eligibility" was my date of birth, last four of my SS # and my bank account number so the funds could be direct deposited. I told him that I was interested in the grant but would not give out the info he needed and if this was real he could send me a check. He told me that they did not send out checks because of people scamming the government. This guy was fairly persuasive and if he contacts the wrong person could get someone into allot of trouble. Could you look into this please? Pamela of Glenn Dale, MD June 23, 2009 My husband and I in February 2008 decied to apply for a grant and exspand the business. USA Grants Inc. had called us a few times so I decied to give them a call. Everything went well we had to paid them 3,750.00 to so they could start the search for foundations who would be interested in funding us. They found ten organizations that they said was interested. Then they told us that we had been awarded One Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars, we knew that was to good to be true. Then they asked us to paid them 12,500.00 for all the legal paper work and filing that had to be done. So we paid that and from that day on they have been telling us that they have companies that are waiting to fund us they send us an application twice from two different foudations we filled them out and send them back and we waited so long until I called one of the foundations just to see if they received our information and they never heard of us and had not received anything from USA Grants. But all that time USA Grant kept telling us that the foundations where going to funds us. They are still telling us that they have organizations that are interested in funding us. I keep think that if this is a scam why are they still hanging around and talking with us. So I've come to realize that USA Grants employees are not good at there jobs and that because of the economy they are having a hard time finding companies that are willing to give up grant money to a profited business. I'm filling this complaint because I want other businesses to stand clear of USA Grants and I would like to see if anyone have any suggestions on how we can get our money back or get a grant out of these people. Thank you for taking an interest. Advertisement
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