Basin residents warned of government grant scam

MOSES LAKE — Gerald Curran knew something was off when he received a call from a person who couldn’t pronounce his name correctly. His suspicions were heightened when the caller told him in order to receive a $7,400 grant from the government he had to send in $250.

Curran’s suspicions were dead on. And now he wants his fellow Columbia Basin residents, especially seniors, to be aware of the scam and know what to do if they suspect they might have a scammer on the line.

It all started when Curran received a phone call from a person, whom Curran said had a Middle Eastern accent, from a 306 area code. The caller knew Curran’s name and told him he qualified for a $7,400 government grant.

“They said I couldn’t have any problems with my police record and I could use it (the grant money) for whatever I wanted, but I couldn’t use it to buy any drugs,” he said.

The caller then gave Curran a second number to call, which had a 460 area code.

“They (the second number) went on about pretty much the same thing and then they wanted me to send them $250,” he recalls. “Of course the first thing that told me it was a scam was their accent.”

Curran’s experience is not a new phenomenon in the ever-evolving world of scams. The Federal Trade Commission reports that government grant scams have been around for a few years and generally follow the same script each time.

“They congratulate you on your eligibility, then ask for your checking account information so they can ‘deposit your grant directly into your account,’ or cover a one-time ‘processing fee.’ The caller may even reassure you that you can get a refund if you’re not satisfied,” the FTC stated on their website. “In fact, you’ll never see the grant they promise; they will disappear with your money.”

The FTC offers the following rules for people to keep in mind to keep from falling victim to government grant scams:

• Don’t give out bank account information to anyone you don’t know.

• Don’t pay money for a free government grant.

• Research the agency the caller claims to represent.

• Keep in mind that phone numbers can deceive and some scammers use the Internet to disguise their area codes in caller identification systems.

Contact the National Do Not Call Registry at 1-888-382-1222 or by visiting donotcall.gov if you want to reduce the number of telemarketing calls you receive.

File a complaint with the FTC at www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov or by calling 1-877-382-4357 if you feel you have been a victim of a government grant scam.

Curran warned that the scammers make the opportunity enticing and hard to pass up.

“I don’t want to see anybody caught with this. Especially you get seniors who don’t have whole a lot of money and think, ‘oh man I could really use $7,400 that I don’t have to pay back,’” he remarked.

Richard Byrd can be reached via email at city@columbiabasinherald.com.