Emily N., 47, from Illinois, was scrolling through Facebook when she received a message from her cousin’s account. It said she had just received a government grant for women entrepreneurs and that Emily should apply too. The link led to an official-looking site with application forms and testimonials.
It didn’t seem suspicious - after all, her cousin was trustworthy.
The website asked for a small “processing fee” upfront, followed by more for documentation and “tax clearance.” Each payment seemed small at first-$200 here, $500 there. But as the approvals came in, so did more fees. In total, Emily sent over $27,000 across several days, thinking she was about to receive a $100,000 grant.
Then everything stopped.
No calls. No emails. No replies. When she called her cousin to ask for help, her cousin’s account had been hacked weeks ago. The entire thing had been fake.
Emily was devastated. She had used her savings to launch a home business, and now it was gone. Her bank couldn’t reverse the transactions. Her local police filed a report but said they had “limited jurisdiction.”
Searching online, she came across Financial Options Recovery and hesitantly submitted her story.
We quickly mapped out the payment flow. Most funds were routed through gift cards, prepaid crypto wallets, and P2P exchanges. It took some deep digging, but we traced part of the money to a regional exchange account that had previously been flagged in grant-related scams. We initiated compliance action and successfully recovered $18,000 for Emily.
“You gave me more than money,” she told us. “You gave me the strength to start over and not let shame keep me silent.”
Fake grants and giveaways prey on hope, but they don’t have to be the end of the story.