I got a call from a guy with an accent who claims he is from the US Government Grant Department and that I won a grant that amounted to $8,400 and that I could use it towards anything.

I asked him what particular grant did I win and how did I qualify. He said I won a December drawing from 1700 applicants and that I qualified because I didn't have a criminal record and that I paid my taxes on time(even though I never filed because I never held a job before) and that they were calling to verify my identity since all they had was my name and phone number. He then asked me for my name and address (he just said they had my name) and while doing this I googled up this supposed department and found red flags all over it.

He then asked me what form would I like to receive my money and I mention Visa or MasterCard and then he asked me for my MasterCard number. That solidified that this was a scam and I told him that I wanted the money in PayPal. He pushed for MasterCard so I gave him the info to a defunct college debit card that I had laying around.

He pulled up a fake confirmation number and said that if I didn't call his manager right away that I would lose my grant. I called his so called manager who goes by "Brandon War" according to the guy and got a message saying that he was busy and that his inbox was full. I would later on call the guy who started this and got a inbox full message as well.

I then reported the incident to the the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General through phone where the automated messaging pretty much said that they would never give grants in the way this guy tried, reaffirming that I was right.

After the reporting was done, I followed their advice to call and alert the bank of the card even though it was defunct. The bank confirmed that no activity has happened to the card and reaffirmed that the card was defunct and tied to no accounts.

From what I can gather from past reports, these scammers would gather card numbers and then charge them and the person would never received a dime. Do not give them any card info, unless like me you are using a dead card. They just want to steal money and with college students pressing hard for money, its easy to prey upon those needs.

Caller ID: Washington DC
Number of the one who started this: 202-666-3552
Number of manager "Brandon War": 202-808-3678
Fake Confirmation Number: ZO938

I have also been getting calls from these people for months now. They said I qualified because I had filled out for a US Grant. I never did that. They told me the only way to receive the Grant money $7000 was through Western Union, but I would have to go and put $300 at Western Union and show ID to prove that I was in fact the person they were sending it to. I told them ok I'll do it and they said when I get my $7000 I would also get back my $300 that I had to put down. Knowing it HAD to be a SCAM I never actually did it.

The phone number I keep getting calls from is Washington D.C.
202-697-9891