202-657-5337

Got a call from unknown number giving me a confirmation number and this number to call. It was for a free 9000 dollars grant. As soon as they ask for name i asked for what other info they needed.  Lady got frustrated and said she needed my name to pull up my info. I hanged up. Looked up the phone number and no government agency came up. They claim to be part of the tresury. They all had accents and tried hard to speak proper English.

the same happened to me I feel like it's a scam

My spouse got a call from a unknown number claiming she won a $9000 grant for being a good citizen with no criminal records etc.... She got a confirmation # and this number. Told her to call back to receive her money. Also had accents as well. Definitely a scam.

I just received the same call.   I did call the 202-657-5337 number back.  A man with a really thick accent answered.  When I questioned him more about this FREE  government money, he became angry and called me a stupid [***] lady.  I asked if the agency he worked for allowed him to talk that way and he said yes.  A total scam.  Watch out.

This is a scam! Why would they need your name if you provide them with a confirmation #. When I questioned it I was told I was negative and obviously didn't want the grant! Wow! No I'm just not dumb!

I received a call on my cell phone. No caller id. Caller had thick accent. English was very poor. Said I won a $9000 "US Government Grant". I went along to see where it went. When he thought he had a willing subject, I was transferred to his "supervisor", who also had a thick accent, although his English was slightly better.

He congratulated me on being a "regular tax payer" with "no criminal record". Repeated I won a $9000 US Government Grant. I asked why I "won" this "grant". Told me I was chosen by lottery at random, and how lucky I was. I could use the money for anything except for illegal drugs or gambling.

Knew nothing about me except my cell phone number and the "town I lived in" (which was not correct). I looked up my cell phone number using google. The city listed was the town given by the caller. That explains why it was not correct and why it was all they knew about me.

Asked for my name and zip code. I gave bogus information. I asked "If this is the US Government and you know I am a tax payer and have no criminal record, why do you not at least know my name?". Response was "all my information except telephone number and 'town I lived in' was confidential to them". If that is so, why did they now need my name?

I was given a "Grant ID" number and told to call 202-657-5337 within 45 minutes to claim my "free government grant" money.

I cannot imagine the US Government having such a program making calls with no caller i.d. staffed by agents with heavy accents and poor English skills who know nothing about the "grantee" except the telephone number and "town" I live in.

This is clearly a scam.

It is a scam.
The government does not offer grants to individuals for personal use.
It is a scam ran by off shore con artists to trick you into sending unrecoverable money to them.
They will say you need to get prepaid money cards, like Green Dot and load them with you own money or to wire transfer funds via companies like Western Union. Once you give the details from the card to the scammer, they clean out the card. Once you wire transfer money, you can not recover it.
You loose your money, you get nothing.

The only legitimate avenue for government grants is through www.grants.gov which is the official US government web site for grants.
From their FAQ concerning fraud:
http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/support/general-support/grant-fraud.html

Please note the following:

No government grant-making agency will make phone calls; send email or letters to solicit money or personal banking information from a potential grant recipient.
There are no processing fees for federal grants.
Federal grants are not issued for personal use, but are intended for institutions and non-profits to carry out projects with a public purpose.
Know who you're dealing with on the web.  Scam artists will often post a website with a name similar to a legitimate site.
If you have provided personal banking information to anyone claiming to be associated with a Federal grant agency, call your bank immediately to prevent unauthorized access to your account.

If you receive a call, mail, email, FAX, or any other form of communication soliciting you for a grant, STOP.
It is a scam.
Report it to the FTC:
http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0113-government-grant-scams

File a complaint with the FTC. If you think you may have been a victim of a government grant scam, file a complaint with the FTC online https://ftccomplaintassistant.gov/ , or call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357); TTY: 1-866-653-4261. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure online database available to hundreds of civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad.

Even after giving them false information and telling them they are clearly a fraud and to search for 202-657-5337 on the web, they will not give up. I have been called several times over the past few days. The latest is "Your grant money is in the federal reserve bank waiting to be distributed to you" followed by similar instructions to call 202-657-5337 and provide my "grant ID" to get my "free money". Beware.

IT A SCAM!!!

this is totally a scam

This is a scam - tried to get parents bank account to transfer in $5000 that they claim they are entitled to
Luckily no information was given

they tried to get 250 in a account for me to get the money i told him i would hunt him down an take the money out his a$$ NOT GETTING MY MONEY

I got a call on my cell phone from this number and once they told me what it was I know it was a scam. However, they did have me address and only my first name never called me by my last name. I believe this number has called me before and probably got my name from my VM but I am not sure how they got my address.

Got a call from 258-7888 (of course non-working number) and they told me I received a grant in the amount of $9000 and to call 202-657-5337.  Knew it was a scam, so I gave them false info just to see how much info I could get.
They referred to "our government" several times while trying to get info.  I informed them our government does not call citizens in this manner.
Looked up the number, it is located(according to one search) at Fst & 14th St NW in DC, but they claim their address is 200 Independence.
Informed them they needed to get a legit job and quit calling the states, because we don't need their trash calling here.  They hung up on me.lol
Filed a report with the FTC and the national do not call registry.
My suggestion, have fun wasting their time and resources...maybe if enough of us do it they will get the point.

the same thing happened to me. did you get a response from the FTC?

i just got a call from this same number and did not call back instead searched goole and sure enough it is a scam....government wants to give 9,000 grant hahah yeah sure.....do not call202-657-5337

I got the same call but he knew my name and address... I had a hard time understanding him because a thick accent. I wrote all the info down to find others

its not a scam

It IS a Scam. A very well known scam. A scam that is being done by frauds in India. Which you are perfectly well aware of, because you are one of those frauds sitting in India.
Skeff Ett Liv!
Gunnar
P.S. I love your alias! An Indian fraud going by the name "keith fernandez"! Only a "sub-continental" scammer could come up with something like that!

Guy from a different number called said I "won" a grant to the tune of $9000 said I needed to call the 5337 number give em some sorta code so I did. That dude said basically the same stuff as told to y'all. I let him go through his entire speel and when he asked when I could go to money gram and send the 250 to verify I'm me so I could get the 9000 plus my 250 back I told him my son used my car to go to school and locked me in the closet til he got home. A few days later get another call asking to speak with me I (being 41) can't sound very young on the phone so I proceeded to tell him "Only cats live here" he was all like excuse me? And I proceeded to tell him that my mommy chained me to my bed that I can't talk loud or she will know I told. He hung up but before then I heard him say to take my number off their list because I was crazy and belonged in an institution.