People Who Have Had Their Photos Stolen Are Victims Too!

They Are ImpersonationImpersonation An impersonator is someone who imitates or copies the behavior or actions of another. There are many reasons for impersonating someone, such as: part of a criminal act such as identity theft, online impersonation scam, or other fraud. This is usually where the criminal is trying to assume the identity of another, in order to commit fraud, such as accessing confidential information or to gain property not belonging to them. Also known as social engineering and impostors. Victims!

However, it is even more of a problem when the scamScam A Scam is a confidence trick - a crime -  is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust through deception. Scams or confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, irresponsibility, or greed and exploiting that. Researchers have defined confidence tricks as "a distinctive species of fraudulent conduct ... intending to further voluntary exchanges that are not mutually beneficial", as they "benefit con operators ('con men' - criminals) at the expense of their victims (the 'marks')". A scam is a crime even if no money was lost. victim that fell for those photos hunts down the impersonation victims.

That hunting down is can be a crime too! Called Stalking or Cyberstalking!

In the United States, individuals are classified as victims of stalking or harassment if they experienced at least one of the behaviors listed below on at least two separate occasions.

In addition, the individuals must have feared for their safety or that of a family member as a result of the course of conduct or have experienced additional threatening behaviors that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear.

Often scam victims will contact, threaten, and intrude into the lives of the impersonation victimImpersonation Victim An impersonation victim is someone who has had their identity or images used by someone who imitates or copies their identity to scam or defraud another. This is a criminal act such as identity theft, online impersonation scam, or other fraud. This is usually where the criminal is trying to assume the identity of this victim, in order to commit fraud, such as accessing confidential information or gaining property from someone else.. Some engage in serious threats, including calling the police on the impersonation victims, harassing their spouses and children, and even showing up at their homes and places of work.

Stalking behaviors by a scam victim include:

• making unwanted phone calls;
• sending unsolicited or unwanted letters or emails;
• following or spying on the victim;
• showing up at places without a legitimate reason;
• waiting at places for the impersonation victim;
• leaving unwanted items, presents, flowers, love letters or emails; or
• posting information or spreading rumors about the victim on the Internet/social media, in a public place, or by word of mouth

We Advise

We advise every scam victim to leave the person alone who appears in the photos. Scam victims do not have a relationship with them since their photos were stolen.

The U.S. Army has asked the United States Department of Justice to investigate stalking, cyberstalking, or harassment behaviorBehavior   Behavior / Behavioral Actions Otherwise known as habits, behavior or behavioral actions are strategies to help prevent online exploitation that target behavior, such as social engineering of victims. Changing your behavior is the ONLY effective means to reduce or prevent scams. of scam victims against active-duty military personnel and veterans whose photos were used in scamsScams A Scam is a confidence trick - a crime -  is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust through deception. Scams or confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, irresponsibility, or greed and exploiting that. Researchers have defined confidence tricks as "a distinctive species of fraudulent conduct ... intending to further voluntary exchanges that are not mutually beneficial", as they "benefit con operators ('con men' - criminals) at the expense of their victims (the 'marks')". A scam is a crime even if no money was lost..

Never is it acceptable for a scam victim to make someone else’s life miserable, to harass them or stalk them online or in person. Scam victims need to understand that their desire to alert the impersonation victim is driven by something more than concern, and it is not their job to do it. Their job is to notify and report to the police and let them take any action warranted.

Scam victims that cannot accept this situation are putting themselves at risk of going from victim to criminalCriminal A criminal is any person who through a decision or act engages in a crime. This can be complicated, as many people break laws unknowingly, however, in our context, it is a person who makes a decision to engage in unlawful acts or to place themselves with others who do this. A criminal always has the ability to decide not to break the law, or if they initially engage in crime to stop doing it, but instead continues.!

We implore all scam victims to leave the person in the photo alone!