Local Woman Too Smart for Scam Artist

Updated: Fri 3:12 PM, Jan 14, 2005

It sounded too good to be true. A Rocky Mount woman was called and offered $8000 in grant money. The only catch was they wanted her bank account information to wire the money.

Sonya Smith received the first phone call Tuesday night around 7 p.m. She says red flags went up when the caller asked for her account number. The caller said they were from a company called Ameri-Grant out of Bloomfield, New Jersey, but they would not give their phone number. Smith says she asked them to call back again.

WITN-7 was there when they did. Here are bits and pieces of that phone conversation on her end. Smith told the caller, "There's too many people out here running scams. I want to verify who you are before I give you that information. Why is it not your duty to give your address; people want to verify, if you understand what I’m saying; you just don't have people call and ask for a number and not know who you are. Can I talk to your supervisor?"

If you get a phone call and think someone is trying to scam you, contact the Attorney General's office at 1-877-5-NO-SCAM.

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