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K
9:39 am EST

grantsearch.com SCAM -- fraud changes to account after initial 1.98 cd charge

THIS IS FRAUDULANT. My daughter signed up for free college grant information for the changes of 1.98. Since this initial charge we have been charge illegally $80 per month.

THIS IS SCAM and we are filing with the FCC.

If you have been scammed please file with the FCC so that the can stop this company.

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Nikkim17
US
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Jan 27, 2024 3:15 am EST
Verified customer This complaint was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

From the very first charge, call your bank and cancel your card

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billy saintiac
morristown, US
Send a message
Mar 26, 2009 3:28 pm EDT

please i need my money back they suppose to charge me 1.98 but they keep taking money out my account

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Out of Luck
US
Send a message
Mar 11, 2009 8:56 pm EDT

You never read the "Terms and Conditions" of the site. These are always located at the very bottom of the page. You (or your daughter) supplied all your financial information to pay the shipping on a "free" CD. But by clicking on submit, you agreed to the "Terms and Conditions" of the site. Which you never realized you needed to read. This is the real scam. This is what makes it "Legal". You agreed to it. Go back to the site, go to the bottom of the page. Read the "Terms and Conditions". Sorry. You are out of luck. You agreed to it. You are enrolling in an automatic monthly payment for something you didn't even realize existed. I fell for it "ONCE". That's how I found out how they get away with it. You can call the Attorney General, The President of the United States, your Bank, your Grandmother...it wont matter. You agreed to it when you clicked on "submit" without reading the "Terms and Conditions" of the site.

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L
11:34 am EDT

grantsearch.com Unauthorized Chanrges

In late August I received a cd rom in the mail from these people, believing it was a college grant service i loaded it in the cd drive of my computer. It immediately started a presentation and I realized it was for "business" grants. I stopped it and removed the CD and threw it out. Now in my September charge statement I received over $40.00 in charges from this company. I suspect they hacked my google cache and trasmitted the information back to their servers. I also received a charge from blockbuster.com. I called grantsearch and they refunded the money after I accused them of online fraud. Blockbuster.com also refunded my money, seems that grantsearch.com is an "affiliate" of blockbuster. They even used a bogus mothers maiden name for a security question on the account!. These people need to be reported to the nevada attorneys general. I wonder how many more thousands of people they scammed.

Read full review of grantsearch.com and 24 comments
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Joan Banks
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Jul 10, 2008 11:14 am EDT

Two amounts - $39.95 and $1.00 - were taken from my bank account by grantsearch.com. I did not authorize these transactions. I have no idea how this occurred, I never ordered anything online or offline through this site. I demand that this money be returned to my account immediately. I expect to hear from your accountant, president, or someone about the return of my money.

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Kirstie
Send a message
Aug 14, 2008 12:17 pm EDT

In a "free" $500 card ad, you had to select 5 products, all of which were supposed to be refundable. I was charged twice for $1, then 39.95 twice a week later. Their phone number is disconnected. I called their help link, and they didn't know anything about them. The website was aboutuswebirc. they told me to go to enquiries@grantsearch.com. still, no answer. I am now out almost $100 from this scam.

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Cheryl Robinson
New York, US
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Dec 31, 2008 2:18 am EST

Monies were charged to my account without permission.

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paulette stone
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Sep 16, 2008 2:58 pm EDT

THEY STOLE MONEY FROM ME AND I WANT IT BACK!

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Aleta Capel
Send a message
Jul 22, 2008 6:04 pm EDT

They debited my debit card in the amount of $39.95 July 18, 2008, I did not authorize this charge!
I slo have two other unauthorized charges from two other unknown sources of $7.95 and $9.95, and I suspect this company of these charges as well!
I would like an investigation into this matter, and I will no longer use this debit card, so theywill not have a chance to do this to me again!.
I would also like to be reimbursed.
Thank you

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Sixeagles
Send a message
Jul 29, 2008 8:53 am EDT

They debited my debit card in the amount of $39.95. I did not authorize this charge. I have a number of other unauthorized charges that I suspect this company made.
I would like this company to be investigated about this matter since I have made no purchases from them. I also have no use for info they may provide.
I would like to be reimbursed.
Any info in this matter will bew greatly appreciated.

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chastys
Send a message
Aug 26, 2008 4:21 pm EDT

they charged me 32.95 without authorization

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Ryan Sin
Memphis, US
Send a message
Dec 27, 2010 7:08 pm EST

http://ftc.gov/opa/2010/12/iworks.shtm

Jeremy Johnson FTC lawsuit is valued over 500 Million dollars.
- Jeremy Johnson and Todd Vowel are actively involved in money laundering. Jeremy Johnson, Todd Vowel, Jason Vowels, Bryce Payne, Jason Peterson, Paul Ford, Duane Fielding, Ryan Riddle are all MAIN TARGETS in a criminal investigation from the FDIC for money laundering and processing casino games.
- Jeremy Johnson has over 10 million hidden in the mountains of St George
- When Jeremy Johnson is finished scamming his victims from millions, he than sells the consumers credit card information to Jason Peterson in Tampa Florida.
- Jeremy Johnson has illegally paid Mark Shurtleff thousands of dollars through various “ shell companies” along with Cory Pulsipher the active sheriff.
- Jeremy Johnson has lost over 15 million gambling at Wynn Las Vegas.

Contact: Jeremy Johnson directly: [protected]
FTC Contact: Collot Guerard: [protected]
AG Contact: Mark Shurtleff [protected], [protected]
Senate Contact Bob Bennett: [protected]

For Release: 12/22/2010
FTC Charges Massive Internet Enterprise with Scamming Consumers Out of Millions Billing Month-After-Month for Products and Services They Never Ordered
Defendants Allegedly Created 51 Shell Companies to Carry Out Deception
The Federal Trade Commission is taking legal action against a far-reaching Internet enterprise that allegedly has made millions of dollars by luring consumers into “trial” memberships for bogus government-grant and money-making schemes, and then repeatedly charging them monthly fees for these and other memberships that they never signed up for. The FTC seeks to stop the illegal practices and make the defendants pay redress to consumers and give up their ill-gotten gains.
“No consumer should be sucker-punched into making payments for products they don’t know about and don’t want, ” said FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz.
The FTC’s complaint alleges that the defendants offer consumers bogus money-making and government-grant opportunities. They claim that the offers are “free” or “risk-free, ” and that they will charge customers only a small shipping and handling fee.
According to the FTC’s complaint, the operation, doing business under the name I Works and controlled by Jeremy Johnson and nine other individuals, uses websites that tout the availability of government grants to pay personal expenses or pitch various money-making programs. The websites offer “free” information at no risk and ask consumers to provide their credit or debit card numbers to pay for a small shipping and handling fee such as $1.99. When consumers provide their billing information, though, I Works proceeds to charge them hefty one-time fees of up to $129.95 and monthly recurring fees of up to $59.95 for the grant or money-making programs. I Works charges them additional monthly fees for one or more unrelated programs that consumers did not agree to.
The FTC’s complaint alleges that this scheme has caused hundreds of thousands of consumers to seek chargebacks – reversals of charges to their credit cards or debits to their banks accounts. The high number of chargebacks has landed the defendants in VISA’s and MasterCard’s chargeback monitoring programs, resulted in millions of dollars in fines for excessive chargebacks, and prevented the defendants from getting access to the credit card and debit card billing systems using their own names. To keep the scam going, the defendants tricked banks into giving them continued access to these billing systems by creating 51shell companies with figurehead officers, and by providing the banks with phony “clean” versions of their websites.
The FTC has charged the defendants with violating the FTC Act by misrepresenting that government grants are available for paying personal expenses, that consumers are likely to obtain grants by using the defendants’ program, that users of their money-making products will earn substantial income, and that their offers are free or risk-free. The complaint also alleges that defendants failed to disclose that consumers who pay a nominal shipping and handling fee will be enrolled in expensive plans that charge consumers fees until they cancel, and that the defendants charged consumers’ credit cards and debited their bank accounts without their consent.
In addition, the FTC alleges that defendants posted deceptive positive reviews and used deceptive testimonials that misrepresented the benefits of their grant services. Finally, the FTC has charged the defendants with violating the Electronic Fund Transfer Act and Regulation E by debiting consumers’ bank accounts without their signed written consent and without providing consumers with a copy of the written authorization.
As alleged in the complaint, the defendants gained access to the Visa and MasterCard systems through many entities. The banks included Wells Fargo, N.A., HSBC Bank USA, First Regional Bank, Harris National Association, and Columbus Bank and Trust Company. The payment processors the defendants used included First Data, ECHO, Global Payment Systems, Litle & Co., Moneris, Payment Tech, Trident, and Vital, as well as independent sales organizations, including CardFlex, RDK Inc., Merchant eSolutions, Pivotal Payments, PowerPay, and Swipe Merchant Solutions.

The FTC complaint names 10 individuals, 10 corporations, and 51 shell companies as defendants. As alleged in the complaint, the lynchpin of the enterprise is Jeremy Johnson, the sole owner and officer of I Works Inc., which has done business under numerous names. The FTC’s complaint names Johnson and nine other individual defendants: Duane Fielding; Andy Johnson; Loyd Johnston; Scott Leavitt; Scott Muir; Bryce Payne; Kevin Pilon; Ryan Riddle; and Terrason Spinks. In addition, the 10 corporate defendants are: I Works Inc.; Anthon Holdings Corp.; Cloud Nine Marketing Inc.; CPA Upsell Inc.; Elite Debit Inc.; Employee Plus Inc.; Internet Economy Inc.; Market Funding Solutions Inc.; Network Agenda LLC; and Success Marketing Inc.
The 51 shell companies named in the complaint are Big Bucks Pro Inc., Blue Net Progress Inc., Blue Streak Processing Inc., Bolt Marketing Inc., Bottom Dollar Inc., doing business as BadCustomer.com, Bumble Marketing Inc., Business First Inc., Business Loan Success Inc., Cold Bay Media Inc., Costnet Discounts Inc., CS Processing Inc., Cutting Edge Processing Inc., Diamond J. Media Inc., Ebusiness First Inc., Ebusiness Success Inc., Ecom Success Inc., Excess Net Success Inc., Fiscal Fidelity Inc., Fitness Processing Inc., Funding Search Success Inc., Funding Success Inc., GG Processing Inc., GGL Rewards Inc., Highlight Marketing Inc., Hooper Processing Inc., Internet Business Source Inc., Internet Fitness Inc., Jet Processing Inc., JRB Media Inc., Lifestyles For Fitness Inc., Mist Marketing Inc., Money Harvest Inc., Monroe Processing Inc., Net Business Success Inc., Net Commerce Inc., Net Discounts Inc., Net Fit Trends Inc., Optimum Assistance Inc., Power Processing Inc., Premier Performance Inc., Pro Internet Services Inc., Razor Processing Inc., Rebate Deals Inc., Revive Marketing Inc., Simcor Marketing Inc., Summit Processing Inc., The Net Success Inc., Tranfirst Inc., Tran Voyage Inc., Unlimited Processing Inc., and Xcel Processing Inc.
The Commission vote to file the complaint was 5-0. The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada.
NOTE: The Commission authorizes the filing of a complaint when it has “reason to believe”
that the law has been or is being violated, and it appears to the Commission that a proceeding is in the public interest. The complaint is not a finding or ruling that the defendants have actually violated the law.
The Federal Trade Commission works for consumers to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish, visit the FTC’s online Complaint Assistant or call 1-877-FTC-HELP [protected]). The FTC enters complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 1, 800 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. The FTC’s Web site provides free information on a variety of consumer topics.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Office of Public Affairs
[protected]
STAFF CONTACT:
Collot Guerard
Bureau of Consumer Protection
[protected]
(FTC File No. 1023015)
(I Works)

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Debra
US
Send a message
Feb 02, 2009 2:48 pm EST

They charged me twice on top of the initial $1.00 & 1.95 charge. I called the number on the credit card statement. I'm on hold now - they are only offering a credit of one charge. Now I'm on hold for a supervisor - gee I wonder how long I will be holding...

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Paula
Send a message
Nov 18, 2008 11:19 am EST

After my daughter had received an unauthorized billing on her DEBIT card, I got to looking at my credit card billing. I, too, had ordered the free CD, and didn't pay attention to my billing, (like an idiot), and had a total of around $180 to my account! I did get a whole $7.95 refunded, but the person had to refer me to a supervisor for mor e $$$. They were busy so are supposed to be calling me back. There were charges from several "companies", all affiliated with Grant Master, that were billing me! Hopefully, I will hear from them and can get money back. I asked for a paper check to my address and was told it would go on my credit card (that I no longer use!).
What a scam! I should have known better! Just like the "How to Get Rich" books - the only one getting rich are the people selling the crap! I am going to keep up on this!

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