Anatomy of the Government Grant Scam

The US Government distributes all kinds of grants to individuals, businesses and organizations every year. Some people know this, many people don't, and most people would not know where to find information on these grants let alone how to apply for one.

Due to the worst state of the economy in decades, thousands of people daily are searching for ways to supplement their low or non-existing income.

This combination of a knowledge vacuum and often genuine need for money by individuals such as you and I provides an 'ideal' landscape for some good old scamming, and apparently many people realized this.

In no particular order, most of these free government grant kit sites all employ several, or all, of the following methods:

• Entice your audience with promises of fat checks, and make sure to show a picture of a multi-thousand dollar check
  
• Appeal to the desperation and / or desire of your target audience
• Sprinkle in some testimonials and pictures of pretty people
• Provide authoritative reference imagery in the form of CNN, MSNBC, FOX logos
• Provide more authoritative references by using firefighters, doctors and businessmen in your testimonials
  
• Reference the governments' economic stimulus package a couple of times
  
• Provide your audience with a 'Do I qualify?' test - ofcourse everyone 'qualifies'!
• Add a limited time offer counter that counts down in minutes - Act Now!
  
• Promise 'risk-free' trial offers and hide outrageous subscription pricing details in the fine print - You have nothing to lose!
• Make sure people do not get their 'kit' before the trial period is up (typically 7 days, which is nice and short and does not require a lot of stalling tactics)
  

In its essence, the scam is a very basic one; let people order a 'Free Grant Kit' or 'Free CD' with promises of possible riches, sneaking in a trial subscription condition. Once the short 'trial period' expires, charge their credit cards with a monthly 'subscription fee' ranging from $30 to $100. Needless to say these subscriptions and trial period conditions are described in the fine print only, which oftentimes is tucked away via a link at the bottom of the site.

And yes, there are many people who do not read the fine print. One could say 'Oh well that's mighty stupid, they should have known better' but don't forget that people that fall for this scam may be in a desperate situation and are willing to try anything. Or they may be people that have never heard of scams like this, or people that believe they won't be scammed, or ...

In later posts I will be examining the fine print subscription fee trap, showing you that frequently these scamholes do not only sign you up for their 'grant assistance service' but also bill their victims for other unrelated services.