Victim Location 13090
Type of a scam Government Grant
This scammer is messaging people on Instagram to try to get them signed up for a “government grant” that will give you $30,000 for free. He’s calling it the federal home care and family support grant and is trying to send a personal Facebook profile to me via Instagram to start the scam.
https://instagram.com/johnethanellis?igshid=1d6at0w53x3lv
Victim Location 30030
Total money lost $100
Type of a scam Government Grant
Contacted via FB Messenger by a former colleague whom I trust. I contacted the number they provided & within minutes I qualified to receive a grant from the Federal Home Care and Family Support Program for $100,000 as long as I paid $1000 for processing fee.
They instructed me to go to WalMart to purchase $100 gift cards to total $1000 & send them the receipt & gift card code. I was only able to purchase one $100 google play card & sent them a picture of receipt & scratched gift card until my card stopped working. I told the contact & they instructed me to take $900 out of my bank and mail them the money via USPS. I told them I did not feel comfortable doing this.
This person then told me to calm down and tried to reassure me that this is a legitimate program and that i would receive my $100,000 in cash in 6 hours via FedEx once i send them $900. I did not comply & indicated to them that i would like my $100 back, but they did not want to reimburse me.
I contacted my previous colleague to certify that what they sent me was truly from them, and she said no. It was at this point when the scammer called my phone number & told me to calm down & tried to reassure me (again) that I would receive the $100,000 once i gave them the remaining $900. Again, i told them that i did not have trust in this fake program. the contact asked me why i kept calling the program fake and asked me why i was blocking myself from this blessing. I responded: “Taking advantage of American people given the current economic state is not an honorable act & you are misrepresenting a federal employee. You should feel ashamed as the job you have been gaslighted into is a representation of your character. Your "program" has scammed me out of $100. You will NOT be receiving anything else from me. I will be sure to pass this message along & inform my social network contacts of your scheme & protected them from your devious actions & intentions. Please do not contact me again.”