Total money lost $1,500
Type of a scam Other
The Funding Institute contacted me via email to indicate they had a course upcoming at University of Toronto (St. George’s Campus) from Sept. 9-11, 2015 to learn how to write grants and to become certified as a grant writer. I receive hundreds of emails like this a week, and I looked into it to see if the company was legitimate. Everything seemed to be in order, so I applied. I received information about the course including dates, times, an itinerary, a welcome packet with pertinent information, and it said the room at UofT was "to be assigned." The day prior to the September date I received an email stating that the presenter had a family emergency that kept them from presenting in September and they need to change the date to one of three dates in October. They selected Oct. 14-16, 2015. I had to change flights, which was expensive, and change dates for hotels, which also cost me money.
Upon arrival at UofT, I still didn’t know what room I was to be in. I called The Funding Institute and no one answered the phone. I called UofT information and they said they had never heard of The Funding Institute and had no space reserved for them either in September or for the dates in October.