US Financial Services Tried to extract funds from my credit/debit card ID, California

I had the same thing happen to me as did the first poster on this business. I got a phone call this evening from a man with a strong accent from India, who was actually based in Idaho. He told me his name was John Miller. He told me the exact same story as the one above - that this was a federal monetary grant that was being given to me, in a minimum amount of $5000 up to $50,000 that I was already "pre-qualified" to receive - I asked as many questions as I could about the legitimacy of this company and he assured me this was all confidential information we were exchanging. Additionally when he told me there would be a small charge of $3.87 one-time start-up fee I did not think it was fraudulent, but rather just the usual telemarketing annoyance one would get, and since he GUARANTEED the business was legitimate and was of the United States Financial system, I went ahead to authorize it. Much to my surprise he informed me that my card was no good (when in fact it WAS), and told me they could not authorize the funds to be transfered for me to receive my grant money. I told him I would call my bank. Well...MY BANK BEAT ME TO IT. They called me from the fraud detection center and basically the $3.87 was not even what they were seeing.. it was $1 and some change....in CYPRESS! In the Middle East, for crying out loud. So, they told me not to worry because they automatically put a stop on the card and I was not charged anything nor were the "people on the other side" able to take my money out. It just created a mess for me now that I have to walk into my bank and tell them what happened so they have to now issue me a new card.   Lesson leared: you can never really know enough about online OR telephone fraud. Please avoid this company at all costs.