WHERE IT STARTED
FIRST SEEN: Early 1990s (scholarship search services); grant scams c. 2000s · GOING FOR: About 30 years
Scholarship-search fraud was first targeted in the United States by the FTC's Project $cholar$cam in August-September 1996; government-grant fee scams followed in the 2000s with cases such as Grant Connect (2007-2009).
Scholarship-search scams - guaranteeing students money for an upfront fee - were common enough by 1996 that the FTC ran 'Project $cholar$cam', filing seven cases, and Congress passed the College Scholarship Fraud Prevention Act in 2000. The 'free government grant' variant took off in the 2000s with TV and web ads promising grants for personal expenses; the FTC's Grant Connect case ended in a $29.8 million judgment in 2011. Today the dominant form is social-media impersonation: hacked Facebook accounts and fake pages offering 'government grants' for a processing fee, a pattern Africa Check has repeatedly debunked in Nigeria and the FTC warns about in the US.
HOW IT WORKS
A caller, website or social-media message says the target has been selected for, or is guaranteed, a scholarship or government grant that does not need to be repaid. To 'release' it they must pay an application, processing or tax fee, or give bank details for 'deposit'. Web versions charge a small trial fee then enrol the victim in recurring monthly charges of $70-95 (In Deep Services, Grant Connect). Social-media versions use a hacked friend's account to vouch for a 'grant agent' on Messenger or WhatsApp. No money ever arrives, and bank details are used for further theft.
'Guaranteed' scholarship or grant in exchange for a feeGovernment grant offered for personal bills, debt or a business you never applied forContact via a friend's social-media account or a Facebook page with a government nameRequest for bank details to 'deposit' the moneySmall trial fee that turns into recurring monthly charges
HOW USEFUL IT IS TO CRIMINALS
A website or a hacked social-media account and a story about 'free money' are enough; fees are small ($1.99 to a few hundred dollars) but recurring billing and volume made Grant Connect worth a $29.8 million judgment. Enforcement is almost entirely civil and slow, and social-media grant scammers abroad are effectively never prosecuted.
THE DAMAGE IT HAS CAUSED
$29.8 million
Largest FTC judgment in a government-grant scam (Grant Connect); no national total published — FTC, Nov 2011
No body publishes a total for scholarship or grant scams - the FTC folds them into its prize/grant and impostor categories; the largest measured case is Grant Connect's $29.8 million judgment (FTC, 2011). Non-money harm: students and low-income families lose money they hoped would pay for education, and bank details handed over are used for further fraud.
$29.8 million FTC judgment in the Grant Connect bogus-government-grant case (FTC, Nov 2011)
$72-95 / month Undisclosed recurring charges billed by Grant$ For You Now after a $1.99 'fee' (FTC, Nov 2010)
7 Scholarship-search companies sued in the FTC's 1996 Project $cholar$cam sweep (FTC, 1998)
WHO USES IT MOST
MOST OF ALL: 🇺🇸 United States ▸
The FTC has run scholarship and grant scam enforcement since 1996 and Congress passed a dedicated statute in 2000; the largest judgment ($29.8M, Grant Connect) is American (FTC, 2011).
United States (FTC enforcement since 1996)Nigeria (Facebook 'FG grant' scams debunked by Africa Check)Ghana (social-media grant scams)Philippines (Facebook grant-fee scams)
GOVERNMENTS LINKED TO IT
No government is documented as using this method.
NOTABLE PEOPLE WHO USED IT — RANKED BY PROFILE ORDER (NOT BY AMOUNT)
#1 Kyle Kimoto (Grant Connect) CIVIL JUDGMENT; PREVIOUSLY CONVICTEDREPORT PENDING
$29.8 million judgment · 2007-2009
Operator of the Grant Connect 'government grants' marketing scheme, which used images of President Obama and the flag; the FTC won summary judgment and a $29.8 million order while Kimoto was already imprisoned for an earlier telemarketing fraud.
SOURCE: FTC press release, Nov 2011; Courthouse News; Ninth Circuit opinion FTC v. Kimoto, 2014
#2 Juliette Kimoto and Johnnie Smith (Grant Connect) SETTLEDREPORT PENDING
$29.9 million judgment (largely suspended) · 2007-2011
Nominal owner and associate of Grant Connect who settled FTC charges with permanent marketing bans and a $29.9 million judgment.
SOURCE: FTC, 'Bogus government grant promoters agree to permanent ban', Oct 2011
#3 In Deep Services Inc (Grant$ For You Now) SETTLEDREPORT PENDING
Not published · 2008-2010
Website operation charged in the FTC's 2009 'Operation Short Change' that took a $1.99 fee for grant information and then billed $72-95 a month without disclosure; shut down by settlement in 2010.
SOURCE: FTC press release, Nov 2010
#4 Project $cholar$cam defendants SETTLED; ONE CONVICTEDREPORT PENDING
Not published · 1996-1998
Seven scholarship-search companies sued by the FTC in 1996 for guaranteeing minimum scholarship awards for upfront fees; one defendant was later criminally convicted of mail fraud and sentenced to 36 months.
SOURCE: FTC press release, Oct 1998; FTC testimony, Oct 1999
SOURCES
FTC, 'FTC wins $29.8 million judgment in bogus government grant case', Nov 2011
FTC, 'Bogus government grant promoters agree to permanent ban to resolve FTC charges', Oct 2011
Ninth Circuit, FTC v. Kimoto, 15 Aug 2014
FTC, 'FTC settlements permanently shut down free government grants scam', Nov 2010
FTC, 'Project $cholar$cam defendants settle FTC charges', Oct 1998; FTC testimony, Oct 1999
FTC Consumer Advice, 'Government grant scams' and 'How to avoid government grant scams', March 2026
Africa Check, Nigerian government grant Facebook scam fact-checks, 2024-2025