PrintMar. 7--"Don't let your bailout go unclaimed," one Web site warns.
"You may be eligible to receive up to $25,000 in government money that you would NEVER HAVE TO REPAY," says another.
As sure as kids on sleds follow snowstorms, scams and sleight-of-hand follow economic upheaval and government programs to remedy it, the Federal Trade Commission warned this week.
On Wednesday, the FTC displayed examples of a wave of deceit it says has been flowing across the Internet toward financially stressed consumers.
"These Web sites are everywhere -- showing up on social-networking sites, streaming video sites, search engines, and more," said Eileen Harrington, acting director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection.
Even Facebook has been targeted with ads touting "free stimulus money," Harrington said. She said managers at the popular networking site removed the ads within hours of being contacted by the government.
The home page of one site highlighted by the FTC, www.GrantOneDay.org, pictured a woman with a briefcase full of cash beneath the headline "Don't let your bailout go unclaimed." It offered "instant access to our exclusive resource center" for just $1.99.
Harrington said the devil was in the fine print. A consumer who signed up and did not cancel within seven days would be authorizing GrantOneDay.org to charge his or her credit card $94.89 each month until canceling the service.
Claudia Farrell, a spokeswoman for the FTC, said such "negative option" sales were common among the stimulus-related scams that have been reported to the agency in the 21/2 weeks since President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
By yesterday, GrantOneDay.org had removed the headline encouraging visitors to claim "your bailout." But the site (and companion dot-com and and dot-net Web sites) appeared otherwise unchanged. Negative-option contracts are legal if they are not deceptive and are properly disclosed, the FTC says.
Farrell said other stimulus scams used "phishing" e-mails, in which con artists lure recipients to disclose confidential information such as Social Security numbers and credit-card or bank-account data.
"They tell you that they need the information to make sure you qualify for your piece of the stimulus package," she said. "And what they're really trying to do is commit identity theft."
Farrell said a key point to remember was that the plan "does not include money for grants for personal financial assistance."
Even so, some legitimate businesses are using the stimulus in marketing that some consumers might find confusing.
In a recent mailing to Philadelphia residents, for example, a Lebanon, N.J., mortgage lender, Intercontinental Capital Group, listed "Economic Stimulus Act Case Number ICG 7-4015469" in the space normally occupied by a return address on the envelope.
Inside, the letter says, "The Economic Stimulus Act has allowed the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) to temporarily adjust lending policies to soften the crisis for mortgage holders and to promote economic stimulus."
There's nothing misleading about that statement. The stimulus bill does allow the FHA to temporarily increase the size of loans it can insure, as a way to prompt more mortgage lending. And a paragraph at the bottom of the page states that ICG is "not an agency of the federal government."
Still, callers to the lender's toll-free number might be confused. The recorded announcement says, "Thank you for calling the FHA application processing center."
Richard Steinberg, ICG's chief executive, said the letter "is 100 percent legitimate" as an invitation to borrowers who might qualify for an FHA-insured mortgage under the new limits. "We pride ourselves on helping homeowners," Steinberg said. "There is no intent to trick anyone."
To avoid any confusion about the stimulus plan's provisions, the FTC recommends visiting www.recovery.gov.
Contact staff writer Jeff Gelles
at 215-854-2776 or jgelles@phillynews.com
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