Afraid this might be a scam...please help!!!!?

Question

Saturday I received a check in the mail for $4975.00. The letter that came with said that I was approved for a grant. It said that this was the first part of my grant and to cash or deposit the check, then send the broker 10% commission. After this was done they would send the remainder of the grant which was $20,000. At first I thought whatever. Then I checked the website from the letter and yes, I had applied for a grant through the website. The check was made out from a Wells Fargo account. I called wells fargo to see if the account even existed and if the funds were available. To my suprise, yes the account was real, and yes funds were there. So I deposit the check into my account and sent the broker the 10% commission. That was on Monday and I haven't heard anything since. I'm just afraid that I was a dumb *** and got scammed. Could anything happen, as far as my bank goes, since wells fargo verified the account for me?

As I said, the check was made out on a wells fargo account. I contacted wells fargo, they verified the account for me. I deposited the check into my account. Withdrew the 10% commission. The letter that came with the check said to load the money onto a greendot moneypak, then go to the website and send them the account number on the moneypak, then they would send the remainder.

I forgot to add the "grant brokers" name is ronnie ellison

The letter that I received said that they are a brokerage firm. They apply for grants on others behalf. If they find you a grant, you pay them the commission. It said that, they just adopted the policy of seperating the grant into 2 amounts because they were sending a check for the whole amount and not receiving the commission. The commission I had to pay was 10% of the total grant. And of course stupid me, used the money to pay bills.

Okay, I just contacted Green Dot to see if the money had been taken from the cards and believe it or not...the money is still on the cards. I also looked up JQBank on the bbb, and it is listed...not a registered member, but listed.

Answer 1

THIS IS A TOTAL SCAM!!!! DO NOT SEND ANY MONEY TO ANYBODY!!

Pardon the caps.

This is another sad variation on the "nigerian" scam.

You are given a fake check, the account might be real, but the check will turn out to be a forgery, or the account will suddenly have $1 or so, not enough to cover the check you have been given, or your check might even be canceled as soon as you deposited it. In any event you will not get the promised money.

The variations of the scam ALWAYS follow this pattern:

You are promised a good chunk of money, but first you just have to send a *little* bit to someone to get this money.

Often, you will be sent a check that seems very legit, and told to deposit it.

As soon as you deposit the check you are then given a reason to send some part of it back to the sender or to a third party, in your case a "broker".

The check turns out to be a real forgery and you are legally on the hook for any real money you took from the bank.

The website that "confirmed" your "grant" is fake too. More than likely they either hacked your address or information from someplace, or simply found it through a search on the internet.

If you send them money they may even try to trick you into sending more.

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BEGIN EDIT.
The first thing to understand about being a grant broker is how to make money. Many first-time grant seekers imagine that a grant broker would do well charging a commission, or a percentage of the total grant awarded. This is true. So true, in fact. that*** it is illegal for grant brokers to collect a commission***. instead, they must charge a set fee for their services and collect only that amount. While this may seem somewhat limiting, it has one advantage: You will be paid whether or not you secure a grant for your nonprofit company.
http://www.howtoadvice.com/GrantMoney

Answer 2

Time will tell, but you very likely got scammed. The convoluted way for you to send them their "commission" almost guarantees that it's a scam.

The check they sent could be a forgery, and even if the check was real, they could put a stop on it and you wouldn't get your money. Wells Fargo said that there was an account with that number, and that it had at least the $5k in it. That's no guarantee that the check itself is real and valid, or will be honored.

If it was all real, why wouldn't the broker's commission just be taken from the grant check in the first place, rather than you having to send it separately? I sure hope the amount you sent was just 10% of the first check, which would still be a lot, and not 10% of the total "grant" amount.

There are lots of phony websites out there. And your applying might have just given them the name and contact info for a "live one".

Good luck.

Answer 3

There are many variations to this scam. Most likely what will happen is the check will bounce. The account may exist, but the check may be forged. It may bounce for another reason, but it will bounce. Are you sure you called the true Wells Fargo number?

I would contact green dot as soon as possible and tell them you have been scammed. If the money is still on the card, take it off.

Below is one example of this type of scam.

P.S. It is really hard to get real government grants. See the second link for a discussion.

Answer 4

ITS A SCAM!! RUN!! What will happen if you deposit the check. 1 - you'll have to wait 5 to 10 business days to access the money. 2- You send them a check they will be able to cash it with in minutes of depositing it. 3 - the check will bounce! A business can and does with drawl money from you account with in minutes of receiving it. I'm not sure how they can do it but, a law passed a year or so ago made that possible. But, still the consumer must wait the normal time frame.

Answer 5

usually when you have to send money to someone else it is a scam. I got a check like that yesterday actually. It was for something else though wanted me to send so much here. I contacted the bank it came from and they called the owners just to find out that someone else had stolen their account info and was using it. The check will kind of bounce it will be withdrawn because of fraud purposes and your account will go under the amount of the check. If you don't mind where was the broker located and how did you have to send it? Through Western Union?

Answer 6

Joe is correct.
If you can place a stop payment on the check you sent the broker. Contact the FTC. Keep copies of the website - these sites generally disappear after the scam.
'Most' grants are just that GRANTS - that do not require a fee for the middleman.
You have to ask yourself, if they have the additional 20K, why don't they just deduct the 'fee' and send you the remainder?????

Answer 7

I dont know about that company but I do know that I received a check for 2900 from just a plain name. I thought it was from my job for the last payment. I deposit it into my savings account and i waited for it to clear. Did you know it didn't clear after 2 weeks and I never had money in my bank account but I owed 15.00 for non-sufficient fund fee. I tried to see if I could get the money back but they couldn't do that for me. It was a lot of running around for that month.

I would suggest you talk to the bbb people before you move any further steps.

Answer 8

I mean, yeah I'm affraid of him killing himself too by reading this. Jeff has probably delt with stress by being pushed, fired and almost not coming a back to fight, becuase wrestling's like the best thing he probably loves doing and his fans would be heartboken, if he ever gets to the point where they won' t see him no more...then that's just the end of it. I agree with you, if I were Matt, I would consider watching an eye on him all the time, since I was the big brother because Jeff is probably his best friend and enjoyed being his brother.