Outsourced Scam?

I got the strangest telemarketing call today. Some chick (with a heavy Bombay accent) tells me that as a US taxpayer, I am one of 1000 people selected to receive a $7,500 grant from the federal government. Hmm. This was too good to brush off :P

Being as bored as I was, I let her finish her script, while being careful not to divulge information. I learnt that to receive this wonderful freebie from Uncle Sam - just for being a good taxpayer - I'd have to pay a small processing fee of $249.99. She gave me an address in St. Petersberg, FL (which I just verified as non-existent). Finally - out comes the important question: "Who do you bank with?" I learnt that I would have to give her my bank account number and routing code. When she learnt she's not getting anything out of me, she got defensive and aggressive. I pushed her and she pushed back. Finally I hung up.

Ten seconds later it's our desperate salesgal on the phone again. This time she only wanted the last 4 digits of my social security number :) This was more entertaining than anything else at work so I let her talk her lungs out. A few minutes later when she realized she's not getting anywhere, she promptly hung up.

Is this the new era of scams? Was this a homegrown scam from India? Or was this an American scam artist getting stuff done on the cheap?

Oh - and the caller ID was 1-559-0802. Deliberately hacked.