About The World

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS) ― They line up early, hoping for help, and looking for money.

More than 150 people showed up at a hotel in Concord, California – about 20 miles outside San Francisco -- on an afternoon in early April, lured by ads from the National Grants Conferences, CBS station KPIX-TV reported.

The ads promise to help people "profit" from the government bailout and other government programs. They say residents can get "free money" for real estate, for a business, to buy a house, pay rent or improve property.

Charles Kay of Vallejo was one of the attendees. Kay said he was, "looking to maybe buy a foreclosed property." Daniel Wynn of Hercules said he was there because he was "hoping to buy some properties."

But behind closed doors, what they got was a hard sell.

Standing in front of a picture of President Barack Obama, Trent Ellingford of National Grants Conference told the crowd, "You can be part of the problem, or you can be part of the solution. If you're part of the solution, there is an open checkbook, but it's going to happen with or without you."

The three-hour presentation wound down with a pitch for money. Ellingford asked attendees to sign up for the company's program at a cost of $1,000. At least a dozen people signed up at a seminar attended by a KPIX-TV producer.

Cammie Allen of American Canyon attended a National Grants Conferences seminar in Napa last November, hoping to get grant money to open a dollar store. Allen signed up, and paid a total of $1000: $950 for membership, and $50 for course materials.

"They were going to mentor you and help you with your application, before you submitted it to the government so that you would get the grant," Allen said. "They said you could be denied a grant for just using a stapler to staple the pages together, rather than putting a paper clip on them."

So Allen wrote up a business plan and took it to a second National Grants Conferences seminar. Allen said she expected to get help with her grant application. Instead, she said she was hit up for more money for more intensive training.

Conference attendees were asked to pay $2,995 for a "silver" level membership, $4,495 for a "gold" level membership and up to $23,995 for "elite" mentoring, KPIX-TV reported.

"They wanted thousands and thousands more dollars," Allen said. "I did not even get up and go the next morning, I was so irritated."

The company has scores of online complaints. The Better Business Bureau of South Florida -- the consumer agency closest to the company's headquarters in Boca Raton -- has logged at least 129 complaints in the past three years from consumers who say they were misled or charged more than they expected.

Two years ago, National Grants Conferences settled a fraud lawsuit brought by Vermont's Attorney General for $350,000.

KPIX-TV tried to talk to company representatives at the conference in Concord, but they refused to answer questions.

The company did respond to e-mailed questions, however, saying their fees are "akin to a tuition" that any student would pay for an education.

The company also said it could not say how many of its clients have actually received government money because clients often don't report back on their success or failure. They also said it has helped "thousands of average Americans learn about the government funding system," including how to obtain loans, subsidies and government contracts.

Mark Quinn heads up the San Francisco Division of the Small Business Administration, a federal agency.

"There are no grants to start a business. I've been in this business 30 years, the question has been coming to me for 30 years," Quinn said.

Quinn wouldn't comment on National Grants Conferences, but sounded a warning about programs that try to piggy-back on the stimulus plan.

"The first business that was stimulated was scams to try and convince people there was an easy way to get the money," he said.

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