Think of what you could do with free money: pay down debts, go to school, buy real estate. But look twice at pitches offering you access to free government grants -- the offers may not be what they seem.

Odette Brassard is a researcher for a European documentary. She was working online when a lucrative offer popped up.

"I thought there was a one time $15,000 or $11,000 across the board all citizens were entitled to it. That's what I thought," Brassard said.

The website www.matthewgetsgreen.com recounts how "Matthew" conquered his financial problems with free government grant money. It links to www.grantsmoney.com which features a picture of the prime minister and big media names like CNN and CBS.

Brassard wrote to CTV to find out if the website is too good to be true.

Simone Lis with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) says offers of access to untapped grant monies are on the rise.

"When the economy is good people are looking for ways to spend their money, when the economy is bad people are looking for ways of getting money," Lis said.

"I guess with the economy the way it is people are looking for cash. People are out there trying to find access what sounds like free money. But if you're paying for it, it's not free," she said.

Grantsmoney.com also warns consumers to watch for offers that aren't what they seem. But watch what happens when we apply under the fictional name of Jolie Day. A lot of personal information like your full address was collected. Once Jolie was accepted the true numbers were revealed in the fine print below where you're asked for your credit card number. It's finally revealed you're actually signing up for a monthly subscription of $57.61 to access the grantsmoney website --and you only have 24 hours to change your mind.

Could that be right? I called grantsmoney customer support and spoke with "Raida" who confirmed it all.

"You have to call us back within the trial period or within the 24 hour trial period to cancel the account," she said. "If you fail to cancel the account within the free trail period you will be charged $57.61."

When we told Brassard our findings she wasn't surprised.

"I'm very suspicious actually that's why I wanted to confirm it with you guys because I'm so suspicious I might actually be missing something," she said.

CTV also contacted Canada's Competition Bureau to ask why Stephen Harper's image was on the grantsmoney website. It has now launched its own investigation. Free information on government grants is available on through the Service Canada website.  .

With a report from CTV British Columbia's Chris Olsen