American Grant Information Center - Or - U.S. Grant Information Center American Grant Information Center Stole $249 from me and then came back six month later and tried the same scam again Washington DC, Washington DC

Received phone call one weekend, saying that I qualified for a $3000 Government Grant.  I had to verify some information and then they wanted my bank account information.  I requested that they just send me a check.  The gentleman on the phone said that they had problems with checks being stolen, so I gave him my bank account number, it was just to verify that I had a banking account - he said they didn't needed the routing number as they already had the routing numbers for all of the banks. We I gave him the number I gave him my account number but didn't give him the complete number for my checking account since it was only to verify that I had a bank account and it is the same number for both my checking and saving.  He said that I would be receiving a Fed-ex package with Visa gift cards totaling $3000 by Wed.  I did not receive the package and thought things were ok, until Friday when I discovered $249 debited from my checking account.  I called the 1-800 number associated with the company that debited the money and have called repeatedly.  I have continued to get the run around and still haven't received my refund, even though the 1-800 for the company that debited my account has changed - but I bookmarked the Website that they gave me and call them every two to three weeks.  Then to my surprise I received a call this weekend telling me first that they were from the Americian Grant Company and then spoke with them today and they are now the US Government Grant Information Department and I due to the trouble that I had encountered I was now eligible for $5000 dollars.  On Saturday they were going to deposit it into my account, which they still had the information for by noon on Monday.   That didn't happen, so they called me on Tuesday and said that the US Governement could do direct deposits into poeople's accounts and they were going to send me a cashier's check.  They gave me a valid address for the Government Grant office in Washington DC and the name of the person that would show up at my home the next day to delivery my check if I agreed.  I was told that I would have to have a valid Photo ID like my driver's license, Social Security Card, or Passport ready to prove my identity.  Then I was asked you have have done bussiness with banks before and do understand that when they give you a cashier's check they charge you a fee.  You are willing to pay $150 dollars to get $5000.   The more I questioned, the more the gentleman on the phone said, we aren't pressuring you or forcing you to take this.  It is your choice you can turn the money down.  He also told me at that time that our conversation was being recorded.   That was the first time in the entire conversation that there had been an indication that the call was being recorded.  I told him it was illegal to record a conversation without alerting the party being recorded and he didn't understand what I was telling him.  That made me even more suspicious.  I finally told him that I did not want the "Grant" money.