ARE YOU THE VICTIM OF A UTAH SCAM? Were you billed on your credit or debit card statement as: GRANTSEARCH, GRANTSEARCH.COM, PM-GRANTSEARCH.COM, INE GRANTSEARCH or BSA-GRANTSEARCH?
If you were, the charges are not from GrantSearch, and are likely fraudulent. Genuine charges for GrantSearch products will appear on your statement as 'WP-GRANTSEARCH PERTH AU' (explanation: WP is our payment gateway WorldPay, and PERTH AU is our location in Perth, Western Australia).
You've come to our site because of unauthorized charges on your bank statement from unrecognized sources, and unfortunately you've been scammed. You probably applied for a free sample of a health product, or a trial subscription to a wealth creation service, and supplied your card details for a shipping or processing fee of about $1.97 or $2.95.
You may then have found yourself enrolled in a program with recurring fees of up to $79.90 a month, with no way of opting out except for calling a number that's been disconnected or doesn't answer. You might recall the name of the website that lured you in, but they often sell your details to affiliate websites you didn't visit and have never even heard of. Real examples of these are shown at the bottom of this page.
One of the many scamming networks in Utah operates a number of fake federal grant and funding schemes based on the same template, selling the same product, but with slightly different names, eg Grant Search Assistant, Free Grants, Grant Search Finder, Grant Master, GrantSearcher, Grant Search Network, or Fast Govt Grants, Fed Grant USA, First Gov Grants, SBA Express Funding etc. These names are chosen to resemble government departments and reputable companies, and make people believe they are dealing with a trustworthy entity. When abbreviated on bank statements they look exactly like authentic companies like ours.
GrantSearch is a legitimate business in Western Australia, providing information about Australian grants and scholarships since our trading name was registered in 1994. We are not associated in any way with the above companies or their affiliates.
This scheme is run by iWorks (not to be confused with the Apple product of that name), a company owned by Utah multi-millionaire Jeremy Johnson. Complaints and requests for refunds should be addressed to his office at 249 E Tabernacle St, St George, UT 84770,
jeremy@iworks.com, phone 435-688-0634, or home address 1673 Cliff Rose Drive, St George, UT 84790-6172, phone 435-656-0719.
In the meantime, if your credit card was charged, lodge chargeback requests with your card issuer for every disputed charge except for the initial small amount for shipping/processing. It is important not to dispute that one since you agreed to the charge, and denying it gives the scammer a chance to defend all the chargebacks by saying you lied, especially if you received the free trial product. Then you must cancel your credit card and get one with a new number.
If your debit card was charged, you are unlikely to get any refunds, and may have to close down the entire account, replacing it with another with a new number.
In both cases, any free trial products you've received, but didn't ask for, should be returned to the sender unopened.
To get these scams in Utah out of business, lodge complaints with the Federal Trade Commission, your local Attorney General and Better Business Bureau. Similar scams are now being brought to justice, with settlements ordered to be made to those who have lost money www.ftc.gov/opa/2008/12/ultralife.shtm. It is useless complaining to the Utah Attorney General as Jeremy Johnson contributed to his campaign funds and was later acquited of charges brought by his department.
Genuine GrantSearch subscribers receive an email confirmation with UserName and Password reminder, numbered taxation receipt, and our contact details. Unless your query concerns payments with Merchant ID WP-QJ PTY LTD TAS PERTH AU, we will not respond to emails or letters, or answerphone messages (Western Australia is 12 hours ahead of the US and we're likely to be asleep when you call).
For future reference, you are strongly advised not to submit your account details to websites publishing no street address, named staff members or email contacts. Reputable businesses want you to be able to find them - if you can't it's because they've got something to hide!
Other warning signs are:
- being directed to web addresses different from the original site, for no good reason (in contrast, our secure online payments are handled by pixeltech.com.au, the company that designed and host our web site, as indicated in the Website Design link at the bottom of this page).
- terms and conditions being governed by offshore laws of countries like Bermuda or Belize.
- a lack of links from the home page, or 'testimonials' linking to external sites.
- no method of payment other than by online credit or debit card.
- no samples showing what to expect if the product is purchased.
iWorks websites:
- 501c3cd.com
- acnefree4u.com
- alternativefundingmemberssite.com
- altfundng.com
- auctionprofessor.com
- auctionuniversity.net
- auctn-prof.com
- cashsvnow.com
- clickmoneyfast.com
- clickmoneymembers.com
- clicknoffer.com
- cost-smasher.com
- cost-smashers.com
- cost-wave.com
- costnsave.com
- costsavusa.com
- cstcrasher.com
- diet-cntrl.com
- dietcntrl.com
- diets-central.com
- excelcapital.net
- fastfundsolutions.com
- fastgovgrants.com
- fastgrantscd.com
- fedgrantusa.com
- fstgovgrants.com
- fitslimu.com
- freefundsys.com
- ftnesshub.com
- fundtoolbox.com
- gglprofit.com
- gglsearch.com
- googlemoneymembersite.com
- googlemoneymemberssite.com
- grantresourcecenter.com
- grantsearcher.net
- granttestimonial.com
- grantuniversity.net
- grantwriterpro.net
- iworks-inc.com
- jeemail.net
- kostkings.com
- kutfat.com
- leanlife-cs.info
- leanlife4u.com
- learningcentermembersite.com
- lifstylefit.com
- livelifelean.net
- made-simple.net
- moneytrendsmembersite.com
- moneytrendsmemberssite.com
- monysecrets.com
- mydiet-acai.com
- mygrantsite.net
- myshape-myway.com
- myshpmyway.com
- mytrnmydiet.com
- natures-acai.com
- paid2place.com
- paid2place.net
- productcustomerservice.com
- quickfundpro.com
- reb-mill.com
- searchmarketmemberssite.com
- selfhelp-cs.com
- selfhelpff.com
- stressmembers.com
- taxlienriches.net
- uhsrc.net
- us-cashhelp.com
- youngface4u.com
- yourfederalandprivategrantcd.com
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