who do I contact to find out if a grant is real or a scam ?

Question

I recieved a letter from Zenith Security ,Inc. P.O. box 1408, New York N.Y. 10036. the letter said I qualified for a home improvement grant. There was a check inclosed to pay the taxes. who do I contact to find out if this is a scam or legit ?

Answer 1

Federal Trade Commission

And what you got is a scam. Tear that letter and do not believe anything it says. That scam has been around awhile and many folks even here at YA have been scammed by that

You may also want to read the warnings FTC has issued against these "grant" companies:

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2004/03/grantresources.htm
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/alerts/alt134.htm

Here is also one of the warnings issued by the Better Business Bureau http://www.concord.bbb.org/tips_timesharescams.html

If you want information on government grants, -- you can go to the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) http://www.cfda.gov and Grants.gov http://www.grants.gov - these are two FREE sites created by the federal government to provide transparency and information on grants. Browse through the listings and see if you can find any grant that would support your purposes.

Even if you buy books on "how to get grants" or list that supposedly has information on grants -- all of them are mere rehash of what CFDA has, albeit packaged differently.

Answer 2

The company name sounds like a scam, be very careful before signing anything, read every fine detail. My guess is you are signing up for a security system and will pay by the month for years. With a real grant you apply and they give you money you don't pay money.