Is Grant Assosiation a scam?

Question

i got a call from a man with a heavy accent saying that i got a $3000 grant from a government site and he asked if i had a bank account to send the money too me, he also said that I shouldn't used the money for gambling or drinking, which i would really do, is this a Scam, he told me he'd call again today, what should i do? is this for real? have any of you ever got this scholarship or grant? please help me

Answer 1

That is a SCAM - I hope that you did not give any personal and financial information to this scammer. The government does not call out people to tell them that they have grants

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

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.

Note though that these grants generally support non-profit organizations, intermediary lending institutions, and state and local governments. Most of the federal grants are given to specific target groups with specific requirements (e.g. minority business owners involved in transportation related contracts emanating from DOT - Grant#20.905 Disadvantaged Business Enterprises Short Term Lending Program. Individuals especially for personal purposes are not eligible for federal grants.

Grants are also often given to non profit groups or organizations involved in training or other similar activities (grant 59.043 Women's Business Ownership Assistance that are given to those who will create women's business center that will train women entrepreneurs

Answer 2

I'm not really sure, but what I am sure about is its extremely hard to apply and receive grants or any form off financial help. They do seem to push hard for you to get loans though.