PANAMA CITY — Officials issued a “scam alert” Thursday involving a fictitious government grant, according to a Bay County Sheriff’s Office news release.
Several complaints were filed Thursday with the BCSO from individuals who received cards via UPS from the National Media Group that claimed the recipient had just been awarded a government grant worth more than $20,000 dollars.
Instructions on the card request the victim to call a 1-800 number to receive the grant money. The card also instructs the recipient to send money to cover processing the grant.
“Do not send money to anyone requesting a fee to award grant money. Simply throw the card away and do not respond,” BCSO officials reported. “Such requests are scams.”
BCSO encouraged anyone who has been victimized by a scam to report the incident to law enforcement.