FARMINGTON — The Farmington Police Department is warning citizens of a scam reported to its office for the first time on Thursday.

A local resident told police he received a call from someone reporting to be from the government. The caller told him he had been chosen to receive a grant because he had never filed for bankruptcy and is an upstanding citizen.

While most grants are awarded for specific proposals, the resident was told he could use the money for anything he wanted, police secretary Bonnie Pomeroy said.

The grant was apparently for several thousand dollars.

But the resident was then asked to send a processing fee in the amount of $250 to get the grant started, she said. 

He became suspicious and ended the call, she said. 

This was the first time this scam has been reported locally, but Pomeroy went on to the Maine Attorney General’s website and found others across the state have received similar calls, she said.

According to the website, in a government grant scam, a caller, indicating they are from the government, calls and says the government wants to give you a grant. They need a bank account number to deposit the check.  

“Don’t be fooled. The government doesn’t call people to give money away,”  according to the AG website.

The AG website lists about 15 scams that are circulating, Pomeroy said. The tactics often change.

This past spring, Farmington Police received several reports of a caller pretending to be from the Internal Revenue Service.

The caller states the person is being sued over a tax issue and will be arrested shortly if they don’t call a certain number immediately. The number may appear to be from the Washington area, but you may be calling some foreign country, she said. 

More than 20 Farmington residents received similar calls over a two-day period, Pomeroy said.

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