Federal Reserve Bank
Complaint 268604 Details

I was contacted via telephone and informed I qualified for a $7000.00 grant. Having filled out many government forms recently trying to get help with housing, I believed it was in response to one of them. I went to a nearby Moneygram and wired the original $280 needed to process the grant money. Then I was told I had to pay the Federal tax on this amount up front. Unaware of tax laws and believing this was a government entity, I wired the money accordingly. The money was wired to India, though at the time I was told this was just a filler to prevent extensive and unnecessary fees. After this I was told I had to pay a security deposit of $1000 in order for the money to be released. All along, I was assured this money would be refunded to me in addition to the $7000 grant. Expecting this to be the final step, I was beyond shocked when my call was transferred to a "banker" who started asking me a stream of questions in regards to past debt, etc. The type of questions that one would ask BEFORE approving someone for such a thing. He, like the others, talked constantly and would not so much as let me ask a single question. He even claimed that I owed $1200 dollars to the IRS for some [blah, blah, blah] at which point I knew he was lying. Being caught in his lies, he started to claim that I was ineligible for this grant due to a recent bankruptcy. When I told him I wanted to cancel this entire ordeal and have my money refunded, he gave me the run around. Claimed I had to call the grant department to get a cancellation number then call him back. He said the tax money was already paid to the IRS and I would have to contact them directly about it. After a long hold, he finally gave me a phone number, address, and the name of "his organization". He claimed to be with Federal Reserve Bank. When I called the grant dept number he gave me, which sent me back to "Brittany" (the thief who initiated this whole fiasco)and she claimed it would be two weeks before I could get the $1279 back, also claiming she could not help with the $650 in "taxes". I also had to pay the moneygram fee on all three transactions, totaling an additional $25 or so dollars.