Scam Money Transfers -
Fake Grants
Example - US Government Grants
-
govt.grants@yahoo.in
Steve Wilson, (605) 884-5940
Here's a variation on the basic scam money transfer email. You did or will receive a a check in the mail from "US Government Grants", possibly using a name "Steve Wilson", of which you are supposed to return 10% to them (at this point you should be asking yourself, why they didn't just keep the 10%!)
Did the email say:
Our organization is affiliated with the government; however, we have a team of highly experienced Grant-Advisors who have access to hundreds of government agencies that manage grant funds.
The alleged organization, "US Government Grants" could exist and may be legitimate. That is irrelevant. Don't let the familiar name fool you. The scammer has nothing to do with them; the email and the grant are all nonsense. No organizations randomly hands out money like this!
If you need more tangible proof, ask yourself this: why would an substantial organization with a website ask you to reply to a yahoo (or hotmail or other) generic, free email address, unrelated to the organization, which ANYONE could get?
In the specific case below (US Government Grants) there are quite a number of inconsistencies that add up to "scam" to us. See the email below and a review of the available facts following it.
And if you were crazy enough to write back to them, click here to a typical response the scammers send.
Note from the victim:
Following is the email i received from govt.grants@yahoo.in. First they called me on my cell phone telling that they are calling from "US Government Grants" and i have been selected randomly for $5000. For that they need some security amount to be sent to them through western union and after 3 minutes they are going to send me $5000 along with the securtiy money. When i started asking questions about there office location and phone number they sent be the following document to my email id . When they called me after sending an emial again i got doubt and told them that i am going to inform about this to cops they than thay started abusing me with filthy language. Person spoke to me gave his number as 605-884-5940 and told me his name as steve wilson.
Sample actual scam letter from "US Government Grants":
United States Government Grants Department
1 Our organization is affiliated with the government; however, we have a team of highly experienced Grant-Advisors who have access to hundreds of government agencies that manage grant funds.
2 You are not paying to get government grants, the administration fee is for the services you'll be availing like the Grant Specialist Support and American Grant Guide that gives you access to many federal grant programs available.
3 You'll never find all that information at one-place and you'll have to do an extensive research that will take a lot of time & effort on your part to compile all that paperwork up, that's why we provide you all of this information at a nominal cost. Moreover, if you hire a private Grant Consultant or a lawyer to consult you with your grant application, you might have to pay them somewhere around $1000 - $1500 whereas you can get all of this included in our low-cost and affordable packages.
4 Grant is a financial assistance that has not to be paid back. Moreover, this money is taxable and interest-free.
5 You are pre-qualified to get a grant that means that your application was reviewed by one of our grant advisors and looking at your information, you had a higher probability to get one or more federal government grants and that is the reason we are offering you our services.
6 This money is coming from the U.S. Government Grants Department and from the charity funds of different Nations because of the ECONOMICAL CRISIS in U.S.A. That is the only reason that you have to pay a small SECURITY FEE to receive your 5000$ as a Grants money. But as per you are receiving this money from the government so we can't charge you for it and the amount which would be paid will be REFUNDED to you along with your Grants money.
7 The SECURITY FEE would be a unique amount and may vary according to the CREDIT HISTORY of the Qualified Person.
( ROGER WITTAKER )
Chief Executive Officer
U.S Government Grants Department
Office Address :- 200 Independence Avenue , SW , HHH Building , Washington , DC 20201
Contact Number :- Head Quarter ( Washington ) - 202-657-6414 , Base Office ( South Dacota ) -- 605-884-5940
And please let us know about any suspicious calls or emails you receive. We look for patterns so that we can alert the authorities and victims to new scams, before it is too late!
For a comprehensive list of national and international agencies to report scams, see this page.