Has anyone offered you “free money” in the form of a grant? We’re going to tell you about three different types of grant scams and how to avoid them.
Grant scams
While legitimate grants do exist, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) is warning people about scammers who offer guarantees of free money but have no intentions of following through with their promises. For that reason, it’s important to be cautious around promises of a grant because there’s a chance it could be a scam that leaves you empty handed. With information from the CAFC, here are three variations of grant scams to watch out for:
- Business grant scam
- The pitch: This scam works by offering financing to small and medium-sized businesses through a website, which may appear to look like an official government website (complete with spoofed Government of Canada logos or flags and an official-sounding name). These sites offer “special access” to government funding programs.
- How it works: The site asks you to pay an upfront fee, either to receive a list of available grants or to complete the application. They may even try and get you to open a new bank account and use it to launder money through. However, you never receive any money.
- Weight loss grant scam
- The pitch: Have you ever seen an ad for a weight loss grant? This type of grant scam promises to pay most of the weight loss program’s fee if you lose a certain amount of weight.
- How it works: After you apply for the grant, you get an email stating that you qualify (because everyone does). Once “approved” you are then referred to a preferred vendor, where you’ll need to pay an upfront fee to participate. Even if you follow all the rules, lose the weight and meet the deadline, you never get the grant that was promised.
- Government grant scam
- The pitch: You see an ad that says you may qualify for free money that you can spend on anything you want. However, you must pay an upfront fee before you see any of the grant money. Or, you’re contacted by a friend on social media and they tell you about a free grant they got from a government grant program and encourage you to try it out. Unfortunately, the messages are from a scammer who hacked your friend’s account.
- How it works: The grant offers are completely fake and no grant is ever received.
How to avoid grant scams
- Remember that government grant and loan services are offered free of charge by government departments or agencies – if you are being asked for an upfront fee, be cautious.
- Never give out personal or financial information to people you don’t know.
- Beware of strange messages from friends on Facebook. If you receive a suspicious message from a friend that seems out of character, contact them offline to confirm it’s them. They may have been hacked.
- Independently verify any website that claims to be a government organization. Websites, phone numbers, and logos can be easily spoofed and faked. If you’re ever unsure, contact them directly.
- Do your research. Find out what people are saying online about the company.
- Report scams and fraud to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre
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About Consumer Protection BC
We are responsible for regulating specific industries and certain consumer transactions in British Columbia. If your concern is captured under the laws we enforce, we will use the tools at our disposal to assist you. If we can’t help you directly, we will be happy to provide you with as much information as possible. Depending on your concern, another organization may be the ones to speak to; other times, court or legal assistance may be the best option. Explore our website at www.consumerprotectionbc.ca.
I think my husband may have been contacted by an old acquaintance who claims to have gotten a large government grant. They have never contacted one another even when this acquaintance lived in our City, so it seemed impossible that someone might link this acquaintance and my husband together. That this guy would even contact my husband is out of the ordinary.
Hi Cindy, that definitely does sound a little suspicious. You may want to get your husband to try and contact this old acquaintance through another means to verify his identity.
My mom in law reached out to my parents on FB to tell them she received $150,000 Alberta govt grant money, when we all live, and always have, in BC. My folks investigated through a trusted third party who checked it out and advised them to steer clear, so they politely declined. The wording in the message also stated 3x that it was “real and legit”, and had a form of language my mom in law would not use. I’ve since reached out to her on the subject and am waiting to see if my hunch that she was hacked is right. The “hacker” reached out to them again when mom thanked “her” for a Christmas gift and asked if they’d received their grant yet. Eep!
Hi Moira, thanks for sharing that story. I’m happy to hear your parents acted on their suspicion and didn’t fall for it!
I was contacted by my Godmother. She told me how she got this grant and gave me the contact information to see if I qualify. I did all the steps to find out that I did. I didn’t know of any scam going on and they caught me at a very low time in my life. So I paid the fees to a bank account. And my godmother was talking me threw the whole thing. These people knew how to trick me because they were acting exactly how she would. I lost over 15 thousand dollars. I went to the bank the accounts were empty. I went to the police. My depression got so bad I considered taking my life.
Hi Diane, sorry to hear about your experience. I’m not sure when this happened but if this was recent, please make sure that you report it to the local police as well as the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre. You can click here to access their website. They are the central agency in Canada that collects information and criminal intelligence on issues like scams and fraud.
I got scammed too. This so called person “Eddie France” took thousands of dollars from me. Then block me
I was told about a program from a plumber a few years ago when he installed a much needed furnace and hot water heater in my Then 25 year old mobile home. I found out that I had to be 65 to qualify. I waited and sent in all the appropriate papers. I didn’t qualify based on the fact that I had sent them in too late. About that time I received a small amount of retro money that I had paid taxes on. I saved that money for 8 years and added to it. Fast forward to January and I decided to have some work done on my mobile home. I got the work done, paid for it and sent the papers in to this program hoping I would get partial reimbursement. I didn’t “qualify” for a grant, but did qualify for a loan. I phoned the “program” and I asked the girl why would I want to go into debt when I live well below the poverty level AND when the work was paid for. She told me that I could pay the loan back when I sold the house! If it were to be 5 years, I would end up paying $2,000 in interest. When I declined, she became quite belligerent also telling me that they had to be sure that people weren’t getting a free ride. This is a cautionary tale because believe it or not this is a legitimate program. One consolation is the fact that these KIDS that are running the show NOW are going to have a rude awakening when and if they are able to retire. Everything that they take from people NOW will be taken from them and there really won’t be any good programs left that help people out. I’m just glad that I made it to retirement and NOW even if it means sitting on my back porch, then I’m fine.
An old friend from school contacted me through fb and he had received $150,000 through a Freedom government grant program and urged me to text this Rober Amanda. I got part way through the questionaire and then he disappeared. I could not get them to reply. I also could not get the old school friend to reply when I asked him if he scamed me and did he actually receive the money. I told both of them if I did not hear from them by morning I was contacting a long list of fraud places. They did not ask for any money. I wonder if it showed up somewhere that I frequently reported scammers regarding phone scams and robo calls.
Hi Charlie, thank you for sharing your experience. It sounds like your friend’s Facebook account was possibly hacked.
Anyone know of or hear something regarding a chase benefit grant?
Hi Lori, we have not heard about a chase benefit grant. Do you know what kind of grant it might be?
I have been hacked by this government grant scam… I have literally lost everything to this… My account Facebook account has also been taken over, and they are using it to promote the scam….
I don’t know what to do, they changed my password… I cannot get a replacement as it is sent to the hacker
What can I do to stop this… I want to delete my accounts but am unable to do so…
HELP PLEASE.. 🙏🙏🙏
Hi Doreen, thank you for contacting us. I did a quick search and it looks like Facebook has a streamlined intake process for hacked accounts. You can use this link to start the reporting process – https://www.facebook.com/hacked If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to ask!
I had an acounting firm contact me telling me they would apply for a BC small business grant on my behalf. How do I know if they are legit
Hi Wil, thank you for your question. I’m not sure if accounting firms are able to apply on behalf of the business for the Small and Medium Sized Business Recovery Grant. I’m not able to say that it is a scam but if you are considering the grant, there is a lot more information on the BC government’s website here. You can also contact them directly to see if this type of scam is going around. I hope this is helpful and best of luck!
Is the Social Services Grant Program for real or is it a scam. Please reply asap.
Hi Lynda, The only program I saw with that specific name on the internet was a program application description by Vancouver Rape Relief & Women’s Shelter but I don’t know if the program is active. I didn’t see any programs with that name within BC or BC government. You can do the same search by adding quotation marks around the term like this – “Social Services Grant Program”. I hope this helps!