Most of us have heard of government stimulus money; It's money you get from the government when you buy cars, homes or whatever.
Well, some people are trying to take advantage of that.
We're seeing more complaints about free government grant offers that aren't really free.
They either want your money or your information.
"If they just said send us your financial information and who knows what will happen to it, nobody would send it, " says Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard. Goddard says the people behind it play on all of the stimulus talk going on.
Some offers come in the mail.
Many of them are online.
We found one site that says "each day millions of dollars are given away to people just like you." It asks for your name and address, then says to click for your free grant package.
But the Investigators found on the next page, it asks for your credit card information to cover a $1.95 processing fee. And when you read further you get a big 24 hours to evaluate it.
If you don't cancel, you're charged $51 a month to get your list of "free" money.
About a year ago, the Investigators signed up with a different website offering free grants. We ended up getting charged by a number of different companies each month until we canceled.
Goddard says despite the temptations, you need to ask a lot of questions about what you're really getting. And the answers will likely keep you from falling for it.
If you want to really know where the
government stimulus money is going, the government has a site for that. It will also let you look for jobs and real grants.
