The Australia Council has put out a warning about scammers who are calling people pretending to be offering grant money on behalf of the council.
See below for their official statement, obtained from their website:
“The Australia Council for the Arts is warning people about a scam involving callers who claim to be from the Council offering grant money. The caller tells people they have grant money for them and they quote an application number, but to access the funds they must provide bank account details and personal information. The phone number the scammers are calling from is answered by a voice identifying as the “Australia Council”.
The Australia Council is also aware of several businesses purporting to offer information on government grants for a fee. This information is freely available from our website. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission provides further details on relevant companies operating these scams through its SCAM Watch website. Clients should check the SCAM Watch website to avoid paying for publicly available information. The SCAM Watch website is found at www.scamwatch.gov.au please also see this link for further details https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/beware-of-websites-offering-access-to-government-grants
These are scams. The Australia Council does not seek people’s bank details over the phone. Any calls of this nature should be reported to the police and to the Australia Council on (02) 9215 9000 or toll-free 1800 226 912.”