Scam Alert: If You're Offered a $6,500 Grant for $150, Hang Up!

If you get a call from somebody asking for upfront money to secure a “Living Well” grant, keep your credit card tucked deep in your wallet.

Then put down the phone and dial the state fraud hotline.

That was a living well prospect you'll be better off without. You have just hung up on a scammer.

The U.S. Administration on Aging has issued a phone fraud alert about a caller who is preying on the unsuspecting by telling them they are eligible for a “Living Well” grant.

The scammer instructs the prospective victim to complete a grant “application,” provide a cell phone number, and wire $150 through Western Union in exchange for a windfall of up to $6,500. The caller wraps up the spiel by telling the target the agency will call their cell phone when it is time to pick up the “grant” money at Western Union.

You guessed it. That call never comes.

There is such a thing as a “Living Well” grant, which the Illinois Area Agencies on Aging bestows. But if you were actually being given a legitimate grant, no one would call you and ask for money.

Plainfield Interim Police Chief John Konopek said he does not know of any reports of the scam in the Plainfield area, but that doesn’t mean it can’t happen here.

If you do receive what you suspect is a scam call, contact the Illinois Attorney General’s Office consumer fraud hotline at 800-386-5438. Consumers are also encouraged to report calls like this to the Federal Trade Commission: https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/.

The Federal Trade Commission has information on its Web site about fake government grants scams like this one:
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/phonefraud/government.shtml.

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