Avoid Scams and Fraud

As I was working on this site yesterday, I received a call from someone who said that I had expressed an interest in grants.  Actually, I have not expressed any interest in grants publicly (only in confidence, privately).  That's because it was fraud.  

After asking for my name, she told me that because I had expressed an interest in grants they were contacting me, all I had to do was fill-out a short questionaire.  "How old are you?", she began.  In my mind, the wheels were spinning.  I answered thinking how would she know that I am interested in grants.  I thought of this website, and that I have not published it, yet.  "Are you single, or Married?", she continued.  That question has nothing to do with absolutely anything a grant writer would want or need to know.  In fact, it is doubtful that my age would be of any consequence, I realized.  This, in fact, looked to be a con artist trying to get enough private information to steal my identity.  

You know what they say, "If it seems too good to be true, it probably is."  It was. I told her I needed to call her back.  She gave me an 800 number, but was calling from a 602 area code.  

I wanted to follow-up on this investigation further, but someone has already thrown-away the contact number given because we both knew it was fraud.  People simply do not give-away grants to random people for absolutely no reason.  

I'm reminded of another such phone call attempt at defrauding me by acting as if I was eligible for school debt cancelation.  If anyone is attempting to collect any private or personal information from you, of any kind (it does not even have to be financial, and probably won't start out as such), make sure you know exactly who you are talking to.  

The IRS doesn't ever initiate contact with tax payers by phone or email.  A federal student loan program rarely will call a student debtor unless the account is in danger of default.  

Simply put, "Be careful out there, guys."  We try to only list reputable sources of grants, scholarships and low-interest school loans.  We do try to vet and verify the programs, contact details, requirements and application information for each program we list. But, we cannot apply and go through the process for every source, ourselves.  However, we do offer Facebook feedback about each and every program listed on its details page.