The "free money" scam has been around almost as long as the human species. It has more variations than a bulldog has wrinkles but you can count on one thing: the government (any government) does not simply give money away to individuals. Anyone who tells you differently has larceny in his heart. If you give him your bank account number, he will soon have your funds in his pocket.
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.
Larry of Wenatchee WA (03/24/09) These people fraudulently stole our credit card off of the internet and made charges to it with out our permission. Then they repeatedly keep calling our house to confirm our order that we never ordered. We told them that our credit card number was stolen and we never ordered anything and the card was canceled and to please take us off of the list and they still call us twice a day to confirm our order. Even after we have reported them to the FCC and the FTC and even after we had stated we had reported them to the FCC and FTC for fraud. They call at least twice a day every day and they will not leave an answer on our answering machine.
We are both college students the phone rings and it disturbs our study time while we are doing homework. I also suffer from headaches and migraines and the ringing phone hurts my ears. I also have a young child and it wakes her up when she is sleeping. Its just out right harassment. These people need to quit.
Evelyn of Topeka, KS March 24, 2009
Evelyn of Topeka KS (03/24/09) I got an email from governmentgrants forme.com and it said I was prequalified for grant money to help pay my mortgae. I had 2 choices to pay 3.95 for shipping 7 handling or pay 1.95 for instant access. I paid the 1.95 by debit card for instant access & decided it was useless information. A few days later i got a call from a man who said that they had my package ready to mail to me. I said I wasn't interested. He argued with me and I just hung up. A few days later 68.13 was taken from my checking account!I went to their website to contact them, but there is no contact number or address on the site for them.
They took unauthorized funds from my account which overdrew my bank account which cost me overdraft fees and my bank told me that since i used my debit card, they could keep taking money from my account unless I closed the account, which I did the same day.
Bess of League City, TX March 24, 2009
Bess of League City TX (03/24/09) I, like so many others, requested information about government grants and in order to get this information they needed my credit card number for shipping and handling of 2.78. As a result, my number was farmed out to ID Theft, Legal Net and Grant Connect, charging me with additional charges on my credit card each month. By the time I got my statement and realized what was going on and called them, they had charged me with another month.
My account was charged for 78.58 and additional charges have been added for March. I didn't realize what was going on until I got my Feb. credit card statement. I 71 years old, still am able to work and lost my job in November, and was hoping to find some assistance. Just got more grief.
Danielle of East Haven, CT March 23, 2009
Danielle of East Haven CT (03/23/09) I ordered a cd for 1.99 and this company begun withdrawing money from my bank account without my consent or authorization. I never saw any information they said that I authorized. I ordered a grant cd for 1.99 and then began seeing charges on my account. I called the company thinking it was an error. Two days later calling it picks up and hangs up the phone after being on hold. The email they send out states written notice within seven days will be the only way to cancel these charges.
How can you submit a written notice first of all that you didn't know about and secondly, if I did know seven days is completely unreasonable to expect to have a company receive and process a written letter IT IS A SCAM I received an email response on March 19th with a cancellation confirmation but the company continues to take money out of my bank account and states they can not give any money back per their policy of seven days. I told them I was not informed of this policy and they said it was my problem.
The result is a major loss of money that I can not get back according to the email even though it was stolen from my account by this company. In researching online this company has a laundry list of people whom have been scammed. I wish I researched it more but given the fact I am struggling in this economy I thought the CD would help me but now things are so much worse and I am out almost two hundred dollars.
Curtis of Hollister, CA March 22, 2009
Curtis of Hollister CA (03/22/09) I purchased a cd for 1.95 from a link on FACEBOOK. The one time charge of 1.95 was to deliver me a cd with info on govt grants. The bank statement was 2.97 to MYGRANTDOLLARS on 2/9/09
on my next statement I was charges 59.08 to MYGRANTDOLLARS 2/17/09 and again on 3/12/09 to GOV GRANTS FOR ME. I DID NOT AUTHORIZE THESE PAYMENTS AND THE TOLL FREE NUMBERS DONT WORK
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