I won $5000!!!! scam alert!

Date: Sun, 03/05/2006 - 07:44
Submitted by imkimssister on Sun, 03/05/2006 - 07:44
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Okay--I originally posted this over in the 'dealing with collection agencies' forum and realized that it needed to be over here for you all to see since I see some topics on 'scams'. So I wanted to share this to warn you all. This is copied from my previous post:

I won $5000!!!!!HAVE I GOTTEN YOUR ATTENTION????
OKay----NOT!!! but here is the story. I'm posting this for others to be aware.

I was out grocery shopping all day for the inlaws. I get a call from my daughter (that lives with me) on my cell phone. Shes telling me about this phone call that she just received on our private line. A lady was claiming to be from the 'united states federal grant bureau' and stated that our name was drawn and we won a $5000 grant to do whatever we please with and don't have to pay back. She told my daughter that all she would need was our bank account number and the money would be deposited into it within 48 hours. My daughter explained that we weren't home and she said she would call back on monday to speak to us then.
This is that scam that is going around. THey want you to give them your bank account number and instead of putting money into it, they take it all out!!! I'm glad my daughter wasn't living on her own and got this call, cause she was sooo excited about us 'winning' this free money, that if they had of called her, I could invision her giving them her bank account number. I explained about the different type of scams going around right now and how they work. She wanted us to give them her bank account number, its a savings account that has been empty and hasn't been used in 2 years. I told her, nothing is free----it usually comes with a price and if its too good to be true, it usually is. If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck---well, you know.....
Has anyone here gotten this type of call??? What I told my daughter is (FOOD FOR THOUGHT), if we really won the money, why can't they put the check in the mail???? good question!!! if it was legit, they would. My number is private, I never pass that number out to anyone except close friends and family so theres a flag. I haven't filled out any forms to 'try' to win anything. Be aware, be very aware!!

My daughter is young -19- very innocent and niave in some ways, if she was living out on her own and someone called her saying this, no doubt she would have gave them her bank account number. This burns me up!!!! so warn you family and friends of the different scams that are out there---the next financial heartache you save, might be your own. Shirley

Shirley


That is scary, Shirley!! Did the person on the other end of the phone at least ask to talk to the homeowner, or did they just ask for a bank account number?? Either way, it is not cool. That is so freaky. Good thing your daughter didn't give out any info!! Hopefully she can also learn from this experience so that when she lives on her own, she will know that this is a scam. Thanks for telling us about this!!

~Mary


Submitted by Mary on Sun, 03/05/2006 - 11:50

Mary

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HA!! they called me back today like they said and man did I PISS the lady off. First off, she could barely even speak english, she sounded Indian, as in from India. I let her go on and on with her speech and pitch. Then when she came to the part where she said she'd have to have my bank account. I said, 'now heres where I have a problem, I believe this is a scam because why do you have to have my bank account number'?? she went on to say that it was a transition from one back to another, from their bank to mine. I told her that if I won the money, she could just mail me the check. she was really getting mad and went on about it had to be done through the bank, and our united states government was recording our phone call so that no fraud was involved. I said, I'm not interested, this is a scam. she was still talking when I hung up in her ear.


Submitted by imkimssister on Mon, 03/06/2006 - 14:00

imkimssister

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Oh, I had a good time with this one too! I was helping one of the elderly professors in my department with his computer when he got the call. I heard him talking about a grant etc...and then he got up to get his check book. I asked him what was going on and he told me he had been given a grant by the government just for paying his taxes on time. I asked if I could speak to the person on the phone and he gave me the phone. Then I started asking questions.

I asked what department of the government she worked for, her answer? Grants.
Wrong answer. There is no general "grants" department.

Then I asked if I could speak to her supervisor to confirm the windfall. Her answer?
This is the US government, we don't have supervisors. Again, wrong answer. If anything, governmental officers have a preponderance of supervisors.

Finally she got nervous and asked to speak to the professor again. I told her I just had one more question for her. Why do you need his bank account number? Her answer,
We already have his account number, I just need to confirm it. Wrong answer. If they had his account number then she woulnd't need him to read it back to her.

I told her to take her filthy scam and shove it where the sun didn't shine, and then I explained to the professor that what would have happened is that he would have given her his account information and they would have cleaned out his account.


Submitted by Bowen29 on Wed, 03/15/2006 - 12:21

Bowen29

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