Government Grant Scams To Watch Out For

Jan 28, 2010 in General

It is a terrible shame that sometimes scams are designed to target people who are most in need but unfortunately that is the case. Often people who are most desperate for money are the ones that are more willing to take a risk to try and rectify their situation. This is definitely true when it comes to people who are trying to find a way to pay for college. There are unscrupulous individuals and organizations that have developed government grant scams to prey on students.

Government grant scams come in a number of different forms; some are worse than others. A common one is that you find a website or get an email that promises to help you search for Federal grant money that you weren’t even aware of. Often, you were not aware of it because it doesn’t exist. If it does exist, then you should be perfectly able to find it on your own by filling out the proper forms are available at your college.

What these companies often do is charge you a small initial fee that you pay for with your credit card. That’s not really where it hurts; if you read the fine print, you’ll see that you are actually buying a membership to this website. Your membership will automatically renew unless you cancel it and it is also likely that it gets significantly more expensive in subsequent months. Good luck getting a refund from them. In the end, you haven’t been helped and you lost some your precious college money as well.

Some government grant scams get significantly worse than this. They can use websites or phishing emails to obtain vital information from you. You think that you are providing them information so that they can apply on your behalf, but what they are actually doing is stealing your identity.

All of the government grants that are available to you can be applied for easily. The application is free and you can get it online or from your school. If you have any questions about government grants, simply ask your financial aid office. If you have a feeling that the company is simply running government grant scams, in many cases you will be correct.