Hiring A Private Investigator To Track Scammers Is A Bad Idea
Helping 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. Victims Avoid Being Scammed Again
A SCARSSCARS SCARS - Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams Inc. A government registered crime victims' assistance & crime prevention nonprofit organization based in Miami, Florida, U.S.A. SCARS supports the victims of scams worldwide and through its partners in more than 60 countries around the world. Incorporated in 2015, its team has 30 years of continuous experience educating and supporting scam victims. Visit www.AgainstScams.org to learn more about SCARS. Special Report
The Question Is: Should You Hire A Private Investigator To Track Down Your Online Scammer?
The Answer Is Always No!
We are assuming that you mean the scammer behind the fake or stolen photo? Or do you mean the person pictured?
Let’s Start With The Scammer Behind The Fake Profile – Identities – The Stolen Photos!
The First Question Is A Big WHY? Why would you hire a Private Investigator?
Why do you want to hunt down the real identity of your scammers? Remember that it is very likely that you were scammed by a team and that all of the information you have is false!
Let’s look at the basic assumptions about your scam:
- You interacted with a series of fake identities – one or more
- Nothing you were told was the truth
- Unless you did a bank-to-bank wire transfer you probably do not even know who received the money – yes you can use fake names with MoneyGram and Western Union in some countries
- The photos were stolen – even if the scammer admitted later the “truth” and showed you a “real” photo of them it can all still be lies
- If they sent something (a gift) to you it was most likely with stolen credit cards
So what do you really know?
You were sold a nice fairytale. You were deceived into believing in a fabricated relationship or other 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.. But almost nothing was real.
Every victim wants closure and justice, but the simple fact is that they are in short supply. Seeking these things for this kind of crime typically results in obsession, vigilantism & scambaitingScam Baiting A foolish activity where a victim or nonvictim engages in deception and fraud to lead on a scammer into revealing information or for the sport of it. Deliberate deception online, regardless of the reason, is both unethical and in many places may also be illegal. While not prosecuted, Scambaiting has no legitimate benefit and should never be performed by victims since it is an act of revenge and only amplifies trauma. It is a reprehensible practice that is popularized by amateur anti-scam groups driven by their hate for fraudsters. Learn more: SCARS Position Statement Against Scambaiting, or increasing the traumaTrauma Emotional and psychological trauma is the result of extraordinarily stressful events that shatter your sense of security, making you feel helpless in a dangerous world. Psychological trauma can leave you struggling with upsetting emotions, memories, and anxiety that won’t go away. It can also leave you feeling numb, disconnected, and unable to trust other people. Traumatic experiences often involve a threat to life or safety or other emotional shocks, but any situation that leaves you feeling overwhelmed and isolated can result in trauma, even if it doesn’t involve physical harm. It’s not the objective circumstances that determine whether an event is traumatic, but your subjective emotional experience of the event. The more frightened and helpless you feel, the more likely you are to be traumatized. Trauma requires treatment, either through counseling or therapy or through trauma-oriented support programs, such as those offered by SCARS. you already experienced because of the additional frustration that will come from failure.
Hire A Private Investigator? Please Don’t!
Yes, it may be possible to hunt them down. But most of the time you do not really have the information needed to do that.
There are real Private Investigators (detectives) out there that will take on these cases, and it is expensive.
No one YOU can find on social media or on the web is going to be trustworthy for two reasons
- They are either going to be a scammer looking to get more money out of you, or
- They are unlicensed individuals or businesses looking to exploit victims
Scammers hunt for victims they can scam again under the promise of recovering your money or identifying the scammer. Facebook has hundreds (thousands?) of fake detective agencies or Private Investigators. You will not be able to tell the differences remotely in most cases between an honest detective in Nigeria from a fake one, plus no matter how much you are paying the local detective, the scammers have more money and can buy them off!
In the case of a Private Investigator in your own country, they must be licensed to perform this kind of work. Most of the companies that claim to be doing investigations for victims are not licensed – this is not only dishonest, but it is also a crime too!
But Once You Have The Name Of Your Scammer Then What?
Yes, you can spend money to track them down, if you are lucky enough to find a real Private Investigator, but then what?
You can spend even more money to personally go to Africa or wherever and meet with the local police.
In most cases, this goes nowhere – mostly due to the poor quality of the evidence or the lack of real names used in the transactions. In somey cases the local police will be reluctant to investigate or they are corrupt and want money too- this can be yet again another scam. However, less than a handful of scammers are ever arrested because of this.
Here Are The 3 Main Reasons To Rely On Your Police:
1. Properly reporting scammers: to your local police, to your national police (FTC & FBI), and to Anyscam.com »
Reporting scammers serves several purposes:
- It helps governments – local and national – understand the magnitude and scope of these crimes, even if there is nothing they can do immediately, this helps them decide on budgets and resources.
- As evidence accumulates and is combined it leads to information that can be used to identify real individuals and in some cases even arrests. These are then also placed on watch lists for when they cross borders. Then they can be apprehended and tried.
- They can also be used by major international police agencies such as the FBIFBI FBI - Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, the FBI is also a member of the U.S. Intelligence Community and reports to both the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence. A leading U.S. counter-terrorism, counterintelligence, and criminal investigative organization, the FBI has jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crimes, including financial fraud. or EuropolEuropol The European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation, better known under the name Europol, formerly the European Police Office and Europol Drugs Unit, is the law enforcement agency of the European Union (EU) formed in 1998 to handle criminal intelligence and combat serious international organized crime and terrorism through cooperation between competent authorities of EU member states. The Agency has no executive powers, and its officials are not entitled to arrest suspects or act without prior approval from authorities in the member states. Based in The Hague, it comprised 1,065 staff as of 2016. WEBSITE LINK to work with local countries to sweep for scammer groups and cartels as was done so effectively in 2018 with thousands of arrests.
- Reporting also helps to identify the scammer’s middlemen or MULES. Removing them helps shut down a scammer’s operational network for a while.
2. Random Scammer arrests
Today in West Africa, most scammers are being arrested by randomness. Meaning that scammers are not being arrested because of complaints by victims but by the scammer’s own lifestyle or actions. In Nigeria, the EFCCEFCC Economic and Financial Crimes Commission The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is a Nigerian law enforcement agency that investigates financial crimes such as advance fee fraud (419 fraud), scams, and money laundering. The EFCC was established in 2003, partially in response to pressure from the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF), which named Nigeria as one of 23 countries non-cooperative in the international community's efforts to fight money laundering. The agency has its head office in Abuja, Nigeria. and local police are looking for examples of scammer instant wealth and investigating. This is the first line of targeting scammers that make their new riches visible to the police. In fact, many scammers publicize their stolen money all over social media.
In addition, there are new technological processes that have been put in place (by SCARS & others) to identify individuals and groups involved in scamming completely independent of who their victims are.
Once a scammer is arrested, they can then go through the computers and phones, and other online accounts and compare that with reports to confirm scamming activity.
These tactics are resulting in thousands of arrests a week.
3. Perhaps most importantly, it may also result in the recovery of your money!
No amateur or unlicensed, or even licensed investigators are going to recover your money! This can only be done by the police, prosecutors, and courts.
Money is being recovered every day in this way. It may be hard when the local police do not have the knowledge or experience to do it, but this is changing rapidly.
We Are Not Telling You What To Do With Your Money
We cannot tell you that you may not be able to find and get a scammer arrested. It has happened. But the odds are very much against it.
We are advising you NOT to travel to the scammer’s country as this can be physically dangerous to you. Victims have been murdered or gone missing, and no one knows how many. It is simply not safe for you to play vigilante and try to hunt them down in their own backyard.
However, as we previously said, your personal number one goal should be to accept what has happened to you and focus on your future, regardless of how difficult that will be so that you can emotionally and psychologically recover from the trauma this crime caused in you.
Just remember one crucial thing! You are susceptible to obsession and being scammed again. The same vulnerabilities are working within you, plus now you have the effects of trauma. That means you have to look at your decisions much more carefully to make sure you are not acting impulsively or being fooled into yet another bad decision.
In short, we are telling you that yes it is possible to track them down (one in a billion chance) and in rare cases get one or two people arrested, but in the process spend thousands more of your money. You will also be putting your recovery on hold while you follow this goose chase. Not to mention you may be putting yourself in physical danger.
However, The Choice Is Always Yours
Just remember that you led yourself down one rabbit hole, and now you may be doing exactly the same thing again.
What If You Are Looking For The Real Person In The Photo?
STOP RIGHT THERE!
You do NOT have a relationship with the face in the photo. As much as you think you do you do not know that person.
You might like to know them or warn them that their photos are being used by scammers – but please trust us that they already know. They are also victims of the scammers. Just imagine how their lives have changed by hundreds or thousands of people contacting them to tell them they love them or hate them. Some have lost marriages because of this. You can learn more here
Just Leave Them Alone!
Getting Your Money Back
You may or may not recover financially, but the odds of getting your money back are almost non-existent. Even if the local government arrests the scammer they keep the money and assets. As hard as it is, you should accept that the money is gone.
Learn more here:
- SCARS Webinar: Money Recovery or Not? [VIDEO]
- SCARS Quick Guide To Money Recovery
- Money Recovery: According To INTERPOL It May Not Be Too Late To Recovery Your Money
- Can The Police Trace Cryptocurrency & Recover It?
- The Restitution Process for Victims of U.S. Federal Crimes
- Money Recovery & Investigative Scams Target Scam Victims
Summary
In summary, holding on to the obsession of the scammer or the face in the photo is not healthy for you.
We have helped millions to recover after their scams by accepting the truth of their situation and though it is difficult – to move on. In time you will get over this.
It Will Not Be Easy But You Can Get Through This!
The Alternatives Are Obsession, Mental Disorders, Or Never Recovering
If you are seriously considering spending more money chasing bad please discuss it with your family or friends or a local counselor or therapist.
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To Learn More Also Look At Our Article Catalogs
Essential Tools For Every Scam SurvivorSurvivor A Scam Survivor is a victim who has been able to fully accept the reality of their situation. That they were the victim of a crime and are not to blame. They are working on their emotional recovery and reduction of any trauma either on their own, through a qualified support organization, or through counseling or therapy. And has done their duty and reported the crime to their local police, national police, and on Anyscam.com From SCARS Publishing
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SCARS GREEN BOOK
Self-Help Self-Paced Recovery Program Guide
LEARN HOW TO RECOVER ON YOUR OWN
This program is designed to help scam victims struggling to recover on their own and for those who want to understand the overall process. You can be using other resources, such as trauma counselingCounseling Counseling is the professional guidance of the individual by utilizing psychological methods especially in collecting case history data, using various techniques of the personal interview, and testing interests and aptitudes. A mental health counselor (MHC), or counselor, is a person who works with individuals and groups to promote optimum mental and emotional health. Such persons may help individuals deal with issues associated with addiction and substance abuse; family, parenting, and marital problems; stress management; self-esteem; and aging. They may also work with "Social Workers", "Psychiatrists", and "Psychologists". SCARS does not provide mental health counseling. or therapy, qualified support groupsSupport Groups In a support group, members provide each other with various types of help, usually nonprofessional and nonmaterial, for a particular shared, usually burdensome, characteristic, such as romance scams. Members with the same issues can come together for sharing coping strategies, to feel more empowered and for a sense of community. The help may take the form of providing and evaluating relevant information, relating personal experiences, listening to and accepting others' experiences, providing sympathetic understanding and establishing social networks. A support group may also work to inform the public or engage in advocacy. They can be supervised or not. SCARS support groups are moderated by the SCARS Team and or volunteers., or completely independent – on your own!
The SCARS Steps program is a complete program and is provided for the purpose of helping scam victims to overcome this experience. Throughout this SCARS Steps Program, we speak about issues and challenges that a victim may have and help guide them through their recovery. But each person is different and it is important to understand your own reasons for being vulnerable to being scammed.
After the trauma of being scammed, you need to take steps to recover and move on. This may be an alternative to counseling in the short term, but we still encourage you to seek out professional help & support. Throughout this SCARS Steps Program, we speak about issues, challenges, defects, or problems that a victim may have in a generalized way.
The SCARS GREEN BOOK will help you recover from your scam offline and it will always be there when you need it!
SCARS SLATE BOOK – Let Us Explain What Happened!
A Guide For Families & Friends Of Scam Victims
HOW TO HELP ROMANCE SCAM VICTIMS FOR FAMILIES & FRIENDS OF SCAM VICTIMS
This SCARS Publishing book represents a complete guide to help the families and friends understand how these scams work and how to help the victim.
The SCARS Slate Book should be purchased by family and friends to better understand what happened to the victim and the traumatic impact on them. But it can also be shared by the victim so that they do not have to explain to family and friends about the scam. This publication is to help others to help Scam Victims to make it through this traumatic experience and recover.
Each person is different and it is important to understand how relationship scamsRelationship Scam A Relationship Scam is a one-to-one criminal act that involves a trust relationship and uses deception & manipulation to get a victim to give to the criminal something of value, such as money! Click here to learn more: What Is A Relationship Scam? work and why people are vulnerable; to being scammed, how they were lured in, then groomed and manipulated. This understanding is essential in helping them through the process of ending the scam and then on to recovery. The SCARS Slate Book will provide the information necessary to help support a victim through this process.
SCARS RED BOOK
Your Personal Scam Evidence & Crime Record Organizer
ORGANIZE YOUR INFORMATION TO MAKE THE REPORTING PROCESS SIMPLE!
Helps you get and stay organized. This publication is to help Scam Victims organize their crime information. Complete this information before reporting to the police then bring this book with you
Before or after reporting to the police the RED BOOK gives you a dedicated tool to record all the essential facts of this crime. The Victim, the Scammers, the Money, and your Police interactions. Everything that really matters can be easily recorded for your immediate use and for the future!
As we have seen, money recovery/repayment programs can become available years after the scam ends and you need to keep all the details of this crime in case it is needed. We have also seen scammers being extradited to the U.S. and other countries, this will help in the event you testify or give statements, Additionally, this helps you have your information ready to qualify for victims’ benefits, compensation, or aid.
The Official SCARS RED BOOK is your way of recording all the important facts of this crime so that you do not lose essential information, Complete the RED BOOK then put it away with the confidence that you will have it if or when it is needed.
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By the Society of Citizens Against Relationship ScamsSCARS SCARS - Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams Inc. A government registered crime victims' assistance & crime prevention nonprofit organization based in Miami, Florida, U.S.A. SCARS supports the victims of scams worldwide and through its partners in more than 60 countries around the world. Incorporated in 2015, its team has 30 years of continuous experience educating and supporting scam victims. Visit www.AgainstScams.org to learn more about SCARS. Inc.
A Worldwide Crime Victims Assistance & Crime Prevention Nonprofit Organization Headquartered In Miami Florida USA & Monterrey NL Mexico, with Partners In More Than 60 Countries
To Learn More, Volunteer, or Donate Visit: www.AgainstScams.org
To see Scammer Photos visit www.ScammerPhotos.com
Contact Us: Contact@AgainstScams.org
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