‘This is a big scam’: Lincoln County man says he lost $750 to grant scam

LINCOLN COUNTY, N.C. — Thomas Jenkins says it started with his phone.

He told Action 9′s Jason Stoogenke that, somehow, the scammer posed as someone he knew, texted him, said Jenkins was on the list for a government grant, and even sent him pictures of the money supposedly coming his way.

“I thought it was on the up-and-up,” Jenkins said. “He send you a list and you choose what amount of money you want. And then he tells you to send him gift cards.”

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But Jenkins says he trusted it because he still thought it was his friend texting him. So he says he sent the gift cards -- Amazon and Google ones -- $750 worth.

He says the scammer tried to hit him up for more money, claiming a delivery truck was bringing his grant and ran out of gas.

Jenkins finally realized it was a scam during a phone call with the real friend, who said he was not the one texting.

“I feel bad about it and I don’t want nobody else to get involved because this is a big scam,” Jenkins said.

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According to the Federal Trade Commission, Americans lost more than $2.3 million to this scam last year. The average victim was scammed out of $700.

Advice:

The government won’t contact you out of the blue to offer you a grant, especially if you didn’t apply for one.
Always be suspicious if you have to pay money to get money.
The government won’t ask you to pay using gift cards.

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