The circumstances Preszler described were a dead-on match with my observations: The Web sites claim to get you quick and easy money, they use misleading language (such as statements definitively indicating that you "qualify for a free grant"), and they feature testimonials from people who can't be traced easily. Moreover, they hide sizable fees somewhere in their small print, typically making no mention of them on the sites' primary pages.

"These Web sites make it look like it's very easy and you just get a $10,000 check for breathing," Preszler says. "That's not how it works."

Harrington says the about sites promising easy access to stimulus money.

Even if you do qualify for some type of government grant, Preszler and the FTC's Harrington both say, there's nothing these companies could send you that you couldn't find for free on your own.

"At most, the people who part with their money this way are going to receive a few pieces of paper with publicly available information about a variety of public programs," Harrington says. "Nobody is going to get money from the government by paying money to these operators."