Don’t Fall for Scammers Impersonating the NIH

Posted by Sara Goodwin on August 15th, 2017

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We’ve seen it all when it comes to scams; whether it’s an email explaining you’re an heir to an incredible fortune of a person supposedly related to you that you’ve never heard of, or an email from someone claiming to be from your organization’s IT department saying you need to update your password.

For the scientific research community, most scams generally haven’t been purely targeted at this group. But the Federal Trade Commission is warning you to think twice if you’re the “recipient” of a grant from the NIH.

People have reported that they are receiving calls posing as the NIH and offering a $14,000 grant. In order to receive the grant money, the scammer is requesting that the recipient pay them first.

The scam raises a couple of red flags right off the bat:

• The federal government (inclusive of NIH) will not call you to give you a grant.
• The federal government (inclusive of NIH) will not request that you wire them money or provide your bank account information.

To find out more about the scam, please visit the FTC’s website.

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