Victim Location 37129
Total money lost $1,500
Type of a scam Government Grant
I received a text the end of September from a person stating his name was Attorney Douglas Gibson with the World Bank in Washington DC & his phone number was 765-390-2232. He stated his company has a Federal Grant Program that assists users with starting a business, financial assistance, etc…Attorney Douglas Gibson sent me Application via text with the approval amounts amounts of the federal grants. For example, if you wanted to borrow $60,000 you would pay $1500. If you wanted to borrow $2000 you would pay $2000. Douglas Gibson stated that the $1500 for the Federal Grant amount of $60K would go to an orphanage in Nigeria. He requested that the $1500 be sent via Western Union or Money Gram. Once the payment is received then the Federal Grant money would be mailed out. After I wired the money, Douglas Gibson stated that I had to complete some IRS documents & certification for the lump sum and pay an additional cost of $4350. I refused to pay the $4350 and then requested that Attorney Douglas Gibson refund me $1500 & that I was filing a complaint against him. Douglas Gibson stated that he would refund my $1500 in 14 days. A few weeks passed and I received a text from phone number 765-390-2232 stating that Attorney Douglas Gibson had died of a heart attack. I replied back via text informing them that I know they scammed me & I was filing a complaint. In addition, I never received my refund of $1500.
A few days later on August 7, 2018 I received a text from phone number 202-688-7586. The person stated they were Lamar Hughes from the Federal Government of International Monetary Fund Attorney General Office. He stated that my information was in there database & they wanted to know if I wanted to receive my Federal Grant money. I asked Lamar Hughes where’s was his office located, and he stated Washington DC. He stated that the World Bank was created at the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference along with the International Monetary Fund & both are based out of Washington DC. I told Lamar Hughes, that I knew this was a scam & not to contact me anymore. A month later, I received a message on Instagram from someone pretending to be a person that I went to college with. They stated that they received a federal grant & wanted to know if I would I like information about the program. I did not respond to the messages. Then a few months later I received an instant message on Facebook Messenger with someone pretending to be my Math teacher from college. Seems that these individuals are creating fake accounts of people I know whom are on my Facebook friends list & Instagram and pretending to them. The messages on Facebook & Instagram state “they received their Federal Grant money & they provided a phone number to call an Agent for someone to call & receive their Federal Grant money. They are trying to get people to participate in this Federal Grant scam & lure people into wiring money over to Nigeria. In addition, they have professional documents which could convince people into believing this Federal Grant program is legit. ScamPulse.com please help stop this scam.