Victim Location 95843
Total money lost $700
Type of a scam Government Grant
On August 2nd I received a message from Frank Araujo, my professor in college whom I trusted. He mentioned a $50,000.00 he was granted through an agency called Gradient. The agency is to help retired people. He said it was not difficult and asked me if I wanted to apply. He sent me the link. I applied, and in response Agent James Stolt, from Federal Agency in-charge of "Gradient Give Back Bonus Grant", responded. He needed my name, occupation, age, Marital Status, and monthly income. I provided the information requested. Few hours later he contacted me to say I was approved for the grant. He sent me a reference number, batch and WCAB tracking numbers to give to the FedEx person in order to receive the prize. Then he sent the list of prizes and the Dollar amount I had to pay for the Case file fee and shipping. I choose the cheapest prize $50,000.00 but my fee was $700.00, which I paid following his instructions. He asked to buy seven (7) Amazon gift certificates for $100 each, receipt included. During all this process my professor (Frank Araujo) is sending messages to me supporting what I’m doing, and making sure I follow instructions so I can receive the grant (in cash) in 48 hours like he did. Everything seemed to be in order for me to get the money. On August 5th I received a message from James asking if I got an email from Sergey, a FedEx officer. I proceeded to read it and to my surprise it said the IRS had stopped the winnings at the airport and in order to release it I had to pay them 10% of the prize, which comes to $5,000.00. At this point I realized I’ve been a victim a scam. There was a text sent to me by Robert from the IRS saying the package with the money was seized and he was demanding 10% of the prize. I replied to all, James Stolt, Frank Araujo, Sergey Trofimov from FedEx, and Robert from IRS that I am not playing their game. I also requested the $700.00 back and of course the answer was NO. On August 10th I received a message from James Stolt saying the fees were settled and the money will be delivered to me if I was still interested. I didn’t reply. Additional supporting documents are available for Frank and his accomplice James Stolt.