CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Robocallers are scamming people out of money by claiming they have won more than $1,000 in a federal grant.
Action 9 investigator Jason Stoogenke told you about the con before, but criminals are still pulling it off.
[ [LINK: Attorney General warns about grant scams] ]
One even attempted the scam on Stoogenke.
He was working on another story about robocalls when a robocaller called him.
He called them back live on Facebook. A federal grant scammer picked up and told Stoogenke he had landed a federal grant for $9,000.
It was odd considering he never applied for one and the scammer didn't even know Stoogenke's name.
The scammer wanted Stoogenke to pay certain fees to claim the money.
"Why would you ask me to pay money to get money?” Stoogenke asked. “I mean, in North Carolina, that's illegal. Asking me to pay money to claim a prize is against the law in this state. Considering you're with the federal government, handing out federal grants, I thought you would know that. You're a scammer, right?"
The scammer hung up.
A federal grant scammer called Wadesboro resident Jasmine Rivers promising her a federal grant for $9,000, too.
The caller told her the money was hers but she had to pay some fees first.
Rivers complied.
She paid using Steam prepaid debit cards and lost $450.
"It's money I worked for, hard-earned money," Rivers said. "It's a lesson learned and I warn people out there that if you get a phone call like that, please don't go for it."
"If somebody contacts you out of the blue and says, ‘I have a pot of money for you, either you got a government grant or you won a sweepstakes from the Spanish lottery or something,' every red light needs to be blaring in your mind because they're a crook,” North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein told Action 9. “They're trying to steal your money."
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