Victim Location 45005
Total money lost $100
Type of a scam Government Grant
I got a phone call last Thursday saying I was eligible for a government grant from a foreign man, Andrew Smoljan, 202-683-9657, from the Federal Grant Department. I was supposed to get $9200, and after I paid a $100 fee, I would get $9300 back. The grant was part of the American Recovery Investment Act. They said it was a personal grant for whatever I needed, not just education. He told me to go anywhere that had Moneygram or Western Union. So I went to Walmart in Franklin on Second St, and purchased a Google Playcard for $100. They wanted me to stay on the phone with them until I agreed to buy the gift card. Then they said just call them when I got back to the truck. I scratched the security number off the back and read it to him on Friday. I kept my receipt.
I’ve been calling them back and forth over the last week. He initially transferred my call to a woman, Rachel Green. She told me somebody at the Ohio state government office put a hold on my money. She said the money had left the bank and the IRS put a hold on it because it was such a large amount of money. She wanted an additional $500 and the funds would be released to me, and they would reimburse me the $500. She asked me if I was married. She asked me to keep it confidential. She told me what to say to the Walmart clerk.
Today’s caller, Ashley Sanchez, is pretending to be from the bank. She gave me a reference number to my grant.