Beware of Free Government Grant Scams

Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has warned all the consumers that they have to be more alert and do not get trapped by the "Free Government Grant" scams. The grant scammers are very aggressive recently and you may see their advertisements in local newspapers, magazines and leaflets. They also approach you through telephone calls. Many people have been cheated and lost a lot of money.

The following is the precaution steps the consumers should take to avoid themselves from losing money to these "free grant" scams:

• Do not trust any phone caller who claims that he or she is calling from Federal Grants Administration. It is quite difficult to trace the telephone numbers as the scammers are smart. They normally disguise their area code in caller ID system to convince you that they are calling from the government agencies. They may claim legitimacy and pretend to ask you some basic questions to determine whether you are qualified for the grant.

• Never give your bank account information to anyone

The scammers normally start the telephone conversation by congratulating you on your eligibility to receive free grant from the government. Then they inform you that the procedure is very simple. By just providing your bank saving account, they can deposit your grant directly into your account in a few working days. After obtaining your account information, the scammers are able to "steal" the money from your account without getting your approval.

• Never ever make any payment to anyone in order to obtain free grant

This is another tactic used by some scammers. They pretend to be the agencies that are responsible to process the grant. They instruct you to make a lump sum of payment as one-time processing fee to their accounts in order to obtain your grant. Of course, at the end of the day, you don't get any single cent. A real government agency definitely do not request you to pay a processing fee for a grant that you have already been awarded.

• Ignore all the unknown telephone numbers

It is safer if you can ignore all the unknown telephone numbers. Do not entertain any phone call which you are not familiar with. You will be safe from being trapped.

• Do not trust any advertisement or promotion held by private companies.

These companies normally state that they are assisting government to manage free grants for qualified citizens. Federal government will never appoint any private company to do that!

Bear in mind that there is only one official internet access point for all federal grant-making agencies, i.e. www.grants.gov. Only this website is able to provide you all the real information. Be smart and avoid yourself being one of the victims of the scams.