Your Choice ripoff government grant scam forged check from my bank account St. George Utah

I too was taken in by the government grant scam by this company. At the end of September, 2004, a man called my cell phone, he had a foreign accent, and told me that I qualified for a guaranteed government grant of $8,000.00.

He claimed that he worked for the federal government, and that if I gave them my account information, then for the one time processing/legal fee of $257.00, they would send me all the information I needed to fill out to get my grant. They told me they would take the money from my account on October 10, 2004, then the information would arrive a few weeks later, and once I filled it out and sent it in, my guaranteed grant would show up 7-8 months later.So, like an idiot, despite the little voice in my head, I agreed.

Well, they did take the money out of my account around October 15, 2004, and a month later I got a packet with a catalog for government grants and a few flyers. I looked through the catalog and came to the conlcusion that it was mostly for businesses, and that I would have to write out a small thesis to even apply for one of these grants. So I gave a big sigh and figured, my bad, my stupid, I'm out $257.00.

That isn't where it ended though. A month later, on November 10, 2004, a mysterious electronic check was taken from my account for $59.90. So, I called my bank to get the information on who this check was made out to...and guess what, it was made out to Your Choice, Inc.

So I called them and got an answering machine telling me their business hours and to call back during business hours...even though it WAS during business hours. I called 4-5 times...same thing.

I did not authorize this second electronic check or any other payments from this company other than that first one of $257.00. And while I cannot do much about the first check, the second one is considered forgery and check fraud on top of everything else. Needless to say, the bank and the authorities are now aware of this.

L.
Seattle, Washington
U.S.A.