Tuesday, November 20, 2012

The "$10,000 Federal Government Grant" Scam

Today I received a phone call from a woman in a 'boiler room' who said that my name and phone number had been selected by the US Federal Government to receive a $10,000 grant.  This is not the first such phone call I've had.  Of course, I knew that it is a scam.  The US Government is certainly profligate in its spending, but not to that extent!  Although the woman claimed to be calling from a government office in Washington DC, her West African accent leads me to believe she was probably calling from the world headquarters of fraud, Nigeria.

A quick Google search showed that many other people have been receiving similar calls.  Some people have taken the time to play along with the story until they are asked to send a small amount of money ($150ish) via Western Union or another money transfer service.

I took a different tactic: I told the caller she is a liar and that she needed to turn to Jesus in repentance and trust if she wanted to avoid hell.  I said this with a gentle voice.  What surprised me was how brazenly the woman continued to assert that she was telling the truth.  We continued to go around and around for several minutes: me pointing her to Jesus, her asserting her innocence.

Come to think of it, I guess we are all like that before Jesus saves us.  Although we might admit to sin when caught, normally we justify ourselves; we think we're basically good people compared to others.

8 comments:

  1. Even I receieved a similar call stating the same,my god someone should file a police case against such culprits and inform to police regarding the same and put them in jail for such indescent , unruly act- robbing people their hard earned money.

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  2. I just received this same phone call...looked it up because i thought to myself...there is just no way i could get this lucky. There are so many scams out there. I didn't give my information instead told them that in their system its showing I'm unemployed with three daughters so what makes them think I have $290 just sitting around? Jesus is not the person I told them to turn to....but maybe I should have.

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  3. Just received similar call, after man explained how I was chosen to receive a $10,000 grant from the Federal Government, I calmly told him that I work for the government(which I do!) and that I do not wish to receive any more calls. No one gives you money that you NEVER even applied for!!! I got my money the old fashioned way, I EARNED it!!!!!!

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  4. I got a call too and he gave a ID number #AI85 and name:Robert Jackson. So I told the fellow "if the government wants to give me money let them give me the money and so send a check to it to my house address" Also the fellow spelt my name wrongly!! Dead give away!! Also tell me when any Govt on earth wants to give money!!!:-) FREE

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  5. I got a call yesterday and they agreed that I did not apply for this grant and it for for $10,000 free grant. Her name is Amber and phone 206-855-3317. She said for to get it I would have to go to western union and she will tell me exactly what to do. $210 is supposed to be my fee that I should pay her. She said that they are not allowed to go into my bank account to take the money and they are not allowed to take the money via credit nor debit card. Obviously they don't want it to traced. If I go to walmart to send and receive the money that walmart will give me $10,000 on the spot. I said really now. Then she said they will give me $3000 and the rest they will arrange to give me. All lies

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  6. I was working with a patient and family who received this phone call (I am a social worker). BTW, the government gives away free money ALL the time (TANF, Food Stamps, WIC, Daycare Assistance, etc).

    Anyway, the patient and I discussed what to say to determine if it was a scam after we did our research on this site. Regardless, I started to feel infuriated as to the predatory nature of this scam, so after the patient talked to them to ensure it is a scam, I took over on the phone call and started asking the caller for THEIR information as I would like to report their location and business information so they can officially be reported to the government authorities and shut down.

    The caller gave me a fake name and contact information, and when I asked about him calling from "Washington" per caller ID, he said yes, Washington DC is where the main office is and they are calling from Washington State, so I asked what city they are located in, and he hung up on me ...

    I encourage anyone who gets one of these calls, to get as much information as you can, play dumb if you need to, so you can report them to the local authorities. My suspicion is that they are not in the states. The problem is, there are enough people who fall for this, that they are making some money off of it, or else they wouldn't do it. Think about the mentally delayed or elderly, etc, that don't know that they are being scammed, there are also some really very naïve people out there and some people abusing substances who aren't able to think through this as clearly ... but rather than just talking about this we should do as much as we can about this so we can shut shit like this down. There are enough real predators out there that are difficult to catch .... if we can do our part, knowing we are being scammed, we can at least get the focus back to where it needs to be.

    Just my piece ...

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  7. Well as soon as I got that call back number I called it while spoofing my number. Then I went full blast on them telling me they were f-ing retarded if they thought they were going to get money from me. Then the guy went all out crazy told me he had f-d by mother, my sister, my wife, and my daughter. I replied, well that's just f-ing fantastic, after that he got even more pissed off and told me not to call the number again. I told him to suck it and I was going to keep calling because they were a bunch of f-ing retards. At that point he told me that I didn't know who I was messing with that they were ISIS and that he was a suicide bomber and was going to come and kill me and my whole family. He then told me not to call again, Then I said "Well f- I thought you wanted my money you f-ing faggot." Then he hung up.
    Also the first person who spoke with me had all my information correct down to my street address and they said that I could get it transferred to my bank account or western union. I said western union because if I had given them my bank information they probably would have left it dry.

    I don't know if what he said was true but if it is, that f-ing sucks that all the money from all the gullible people that are being scammed is going to them, Well lets just say that f-ing stinks

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  8. I also received a call on my cell phone with a Egypt number and I just received a call at my office (I work at a high school office) and was told the same thing about the Grant of 10,000 that I never have to pay back. I was nice and wrote her information down and then jumped onto my computer and pulled up this site. Praise you for tell her about Jesus and when she finds him she will stop this stupid calling. Have a Blessed Day

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