Victim Location 37375
Type of a scam Government Grant
An employee called and asked for me by name, saying that I was being given a federal grant of $14,566.00 based on a demographic survey, my record of paying taxes, not getting into trouble with the law and serving in my community. She said she had to verify who I was and asked a lot of identity information-social security number, date of birth, address, already had telephone number. When I would not give it all to her, questioning if this were a scam, she transferred me to her chief officer, Mr. Steve Penfold, of NIH. He repeated what the previous person had said, and claimed to be awarding "individual grants" based on demographics and good record, wanted bank account number. He offered a claim number (TN 230205), his badge number( #SP14458), and an address and telephone number. When I questioned him, he said that I would lose the grant if they could not transfer the money directly to a credit/debit card numbers or my bank account. I said that they could write a check, but that I would not give any numbers for them. I had to check on them before I could trust them. I would call them back-maybe. When I did check them out, I found many discrepancies and did not call them back. The chief officer called me again, offering to connect me with his boss to assure me of their honesty. Again, the same information was offered, with the request for numbers of credit card or bank account, which I would not give. I informed the person of the discrepancies that I had found. He professed their legality, but said he would cancel the account. I said "thank you" and hung up. This could be a scam for bank account or credit card access or identity thief.