(KPRC)--Curtis Mayfield thought the pitch sounded decent. He got a call on his cellphone from a man who claimed Mayfield had been chosen to receive a government grant for $7,000. But he'd have to pay to get the money.
"It's going to cost you $500," he recalled the man saying.
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The caller told him to go to Walgreens and pick up iTunes gift cards to make the payment. Then he could call the company back to cash in on his grant.
"They told me, 'The money is going to be in your account,'" Mayfield said.
Mayfield gave the caller the codes on the back of the gift cards, and that was all the scammers needed.
They now had access to his money. That government grant he had been promised did not exist.
"They got me for at least $1,750. And I'm on disability," he said.
Susan Burdick, with the Better Business Bureau, said scammers are turning to iTunes cards because they're hard to track.
"The Green Dot card was one that they did, Western Union. So this is just an updated, if you will, same old scam. A lot of times they'll pretend they're a debt collector or they're the IRS calling and they're telling the consumer they can go ahead and buy the iTunes gift card and give them the PIN off the back and that way it's completely untraceable," Burdick explained.
Burdick said the government will never ask you to use a gift card as a form of payment.
"They may take the credit card over the phone or take your check, but they're not going to ask you to go the store and ask you to buy an iTunes gift card," Burdick added.
Mayfield said he's embarrassed and ashamed by the whole thing. But he's coming forward to warn others. His first piece of advice,: Don't answer calls from unknown numbers.
"It was a big lesson learned from all of this. I just want to help other people, I don't want this to happen because there are other people in worse shape than I am," Mayfield said.
Mayfield did a file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, which tracks this type of scam.