Tonight I learned that the government in Washington had completed a survey and selected my name as one of 1500 people to receive a $9,800.00 grant that I didn’t have to pay back that I could use for any legitimate expenses I wanted, like paying off bills or home improvements.
Of course, the person who called me, from a list where the government had completed a survey to select me, had to have me spell my name to them and couldn’t hear what I was saying correctly — despite my giving him the name three times. My last name was Wiseman as far as he was concerned. He verified me as Jonathan Wiseman before giving me my grant code and the telephone number I needed to call. And I couldn’t understand the code he was giving to me until he gave it to me three times.
I decided to give the number a call and see what they had. Amazingly, giving them my code didn’t give them any information about me. One would expect with the surveys they had done that they would have my name there, and be able to recognize it when I gave it over the phone. My surname is quite unique and memorable. The sort of mistakes they had in hearing it showed they didn’t have any information on me.
So when I finally got to my “grant agent” she went over the spiel again, and then asked me how I wanted the grant funds paid.
“To the account information the government has on record for me” I replied. “Whenever I get anything from the government, whether a tax return or anything else, they send it to my bank account on record in their files. Since you are from the government, use the information you have on file.”
She asked me to provide the bank name and account number. “The government tells people never to give that information to someone over the telephone. You are from the government, you should know that,” I replied.
That is where the call ended, because I had to go to choir rehearsal, and she didn’t have any real grant money.
After choir I called my cell phone carrier and waited 15 minutes on hold to get to a service person. He confirmed no unusual charges had been made to the telephone. I then went online and filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. I filed two: one for violating the no call, and the other one for fraud. Not sure if anyone will follow up or catch them.
At The Rainbow 