I bet that at least one time you have seen an email, a website or received something in the mail that tells you that it is possible to get Government grants free of charge for nearly any purpose. These grants will supposedly help you pay bills, buy a car or home, or a host of other (unlikely) things. As part of our ongoing investigation, doing the work that was supposedly already done by scam Work at Home Digest and scam Work at Home Business Opportunities, the next advertisement that was selected for review was this one (again, found on both sites)
Perfect, I bet that I can find SOME grant to apply for. How cool is this?
Well, before you get too excited let me show you what the Federal Trade Commission says about avoiding grant scams:
” How to Avoid Grant Scams
Don’t pay any money for a “free” government grant. If you have to pay money to claim a “free” government grant, it isn’t really free. The names of agencies and foundations that award grants are available for free at any public library or on the Internet. The only official access point for all federal grant-making agencies is www.grants.gov.”
Cool. So, could it be that this site has actually found something worthwhile (though I’m not sure what this has to do with working at home but that’s ok)….. Well, not so much. The provided link does not go to the grants site that is specified by the Federal Trade Commission, in fact, it goes to a site that does end with .org but that doesn’t make it legitimate. In fact, this site is promising to show you how to find grant opportunities when the government is more than happy to help you find them – free! But none the less, let’s take a peek at what they have to say for themselves shall we?
Seems cheap enough right?
What the heck, for a mere $4.97 how bad could it be? That looks like a pretty substantial book to me so perhaps it’s worth the money….
NOT SO FAST
Get a load of this! They “give” you seven days access and if you want more access, you pay $39.95 a month? Seriously? Now, I want to make something perfectly clear. This is by no means something “new”. In fact MSNBC writer Herb Weisbaum wrote back in 2009 “ Free money from stimulus? Are you kidding? Web sites offering grant money from the government are bogus“. This is a fascinating look at what these folks are really trying to do to (for) you!
Now, I also wanted to look at this sites Terms of Service because sometimes they tell you how to get your money back and other interesting tidbits. So I did take a look. Now all indications that I’ve seen on this site indicate that they are located in Texas. But the Terms of Service tell a really different story:
I also find the copyright troubling — I know that name from someplace. Ah, yes, I DO remember now, I wrote a blog post a while back (a long while back) regarding the truth about FTC disclaimers that actually called this site out. So, just how are these sites linked because I seriously doubt that this con artist is worried about their legalese. Oh look what I found:
Silber IS an attorney, HE is licensed and he is legitimate (he does lack ethics in my opinion). He’s a cheerleader for this scumbag. The fact of the matter is that the primary text on this website can be found on thousands of other websites promising you that they can help you get grants from the government. You can see the results for yourself:
Only a few huh? The bottom line is that these government grant scams are just scams – period. They have no validity. The “REAL” grants can be found in the MSNBC article that I linked to earlier: Web sites offering grant money from the government are bogus
Be safe, do your homework and understand that these sites are everywhere and it’s easy to fall prey to them. I have actually written a few articles about real grants that you might find helpful:
- Can you get government grants for a small business?
- Grants: How to get money from the government
- An introduction to Government Debt Relief grants
About Doreen Martel
Well-rounded freelance writer who contributes to various blogs, paid to write sites and revenue sharing sites. Doreen is legally blind and has worked at home for more than 10 years. She uses the lessons learned from this experience to enhance her writing and share information with others.
Nice to read one of your helpful articles again Doreen.
Nigel
Hey Nigel, it’s rather nice to be shooting my mouth off again