ButterflyLady29
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Location: central Ohio

Woohoo! $7,000 govt grant

And I didn't even have to fill out a stack of papers!

Don't worry, I didn't give them any info. I was told to call a number and speak to the grant administrator. Didn't call right away but curiosity got the better of me. A recording says "welcome" then plays an irritating ding dong kind of tone. Definitely not the US govt! Whitepages.com says activity is low so this is a relatively new scam number.

Just FYI so you know that if you get a call you know it's fake. But then I've not heard of a federal govt phone number that wasn't a toll free number. Might be some out there, I just haven't run across one.

Bummer, I really could have used that $7,000! That's just about the cost of having a well drilled.

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webmaster
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Location: Amherst, MA USDA Zone 5a

Whew! Glad you didn't fall for that. Nearly all recorded calls are a scam. There is no such thing as free money, either. :P

ButterflyLady29
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It's hard enough getting money they legitimately owe you (income tax return) much less a grant that you never filled out paperwork for.

The incoming call wasn't a recording. It was a live woman (? I think) that had a very strong Indian accent. I could barely understand her. She gave me 3 options for getting my money. Cash in hand, deposited in my account, or credited to my credit card. Like the feds would give you cash anyway! Hahahahaha! But there was no way I was giving out any account numbers! When I said I wanted cash she said I had to call the number.

Maybe I should have said to just use my money to pay down the federal debt. Wonder what she would have said then.

And I wonder how she got my number. Phone is not in my name, in fact I rarely use that number. Anyone who knows me knows I almost never answer that phone. If they want me they call my cell.

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rainbowgardener
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My partner got two recent recorded calls on her cell phone saying that the IRS is about to file a lawsuit against her for taxes owed and she needs to contact them immediately by calling the number back, to arrange payment.

She doesn't owe any taxes
The number was not an 800 number and was out of some little town in Kansas
The IRS does not file lawsuits without having given you umpteen warnings first ...


She ignored the calls

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tomf
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Location: Oregon

No it is real I got that call and gave them my bank numbers and credit card number so they could send it to me. I am also getting a million bucks from Africa soon into my cridit card account. LOL

ButterflyLady29
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Oh, now I'm getting an additional $9,000! All I have to do is call the number and go down to the nearest Western Union or Money Gram store to claim my "grant".

Taiji
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Location: Gardening in western U.P. of MI. 46+ N. lat. elev 1540. zone 3; state bird: mosquito

I was getting quite a few of the IRS scam calls a few weeks ago. There's a plethora of those around here. This is a largely retirement community and they like to target older folks who might fall for the scam more easily. Mine came from New York. It was funny cause the final recorded message said something like " well, I've warned you, a warrant will be issued for your arrest and the police will be showing up shortly...all I can do is wish you ...Good Luck" :eek:

(It was so kind of her to wish me good luck, she was such a caring person) :roll:


After a while I got a recorded message from the county sheriff (this one was legit) warning people not to fall for the IRS phone scam.

Article in the paper told of one elderly gentleman here who fell for it and sent $9000 to an address in CO. that the scammers provided. (funny thing how the exact amount in his account was $9000 and that's what it would take to settle the issue!) But, he got suspicious later and the police were able to intercept his $9000 check in time.

When you think about it, it probably hardly costs anything to send out those robocalls, and if only one person in a thousand takes the bait, they've still made money.

ButterflyLady29
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Joined: Mon Oct 19, 2015 9:12 pm
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Now I'm getting calls every other day! They called me yesterday and told me I was getting a US govt grant. I said "great, a third one. I'll take all the money Uncle Sam is willing to give me!". Well she said "enjoy your money" and hung up on me! Now I'll never get my third grant. I was all prepared to give her a big sob story but she never gave me the chance. Oh well, maybe they'll call tomorrow.



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