http://evpl.org/community/blogs/research/archive/tags/government/scams/default.aspxTags: government, scamsenCommunityServer 2008 SP1 (Build: 30619.63)http://evpl.org/community/blogs/research/archive/2009/03/09/free-government-grants-not-so-fast.aspxMon, 09 Mar 2009 14:53:00 GMT9a7b961d-7882-4302-b701-732ca0e566f2:1351googler@evpl0http://evpl.org/community/blogs/research/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=1351http://evpl.org/community/blogs/research/archive/2009/03/09/free-government-grants-not-so-fast.aspx#comments<p><img width="200" src="http://i459.photobucket.com/albums/qq316/evplreference/freemoney.jpg" alt="book cover image" height="258" style="float:left;margin-left:10px;margin-right:10px;margin-top:5px;margin-bottom:5px;" />A <a href="http://www.snopes.com/fraud/advancefee/grants.asp">recent post at Snopes</a> (which is the premiere hoax-debunking website) covers the increasing &quot;free government grant&quot; scam, currently being perpetrated through web ads, e-mails, and even direct phone calls. (Unfortunately, while Snopes is a great source of information, it may also spawn two &quot;pop-under&quot; ads on your computer. These can be harmlessly&nbsp;closed using the X in the upper right-hand corner.)</p> <p>The federal government has an official <a href="http://grants.gov/">website for all federal grant applications</a>, and there they take pains to explain that they do not offer ANY grants for personal financial assistance or debt. (There are a few grants available to individuals in addition to organizations, but they&#39;re for specific&nbsp;types of research, projects, etc.)&nbsp;Their <a href="http://grants.gov/aboutgrants/eligibility.jsp">page describing who is eligible</a> for grants&nbsp;offers links to various organizations that do provide financial assistance, and also to the alphabetical list of all <a href="http://www.usa.gov/Citizen/Topics/Benefits.shtml">government benefits and financial aid programs</a>.</p> <p>At the Library, we have bought some books that may contain such phrases as &quot;free money&quot; in their titles, but frankly, the titles are pretty misleading. By free money, they mean bargains, discounts, and the financial aid programs linked above.</p><div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://evpl.org/community/aggbug.aspx?PostID=1351" width="1" height="1">governmenthoaxmoneygrantsscams