After You Are Scammed The Scammers Come Out To Get You Again With Money Recovery Scams
They’re the worst of the worst: scams that target people who have already lost money to a 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.. If you’ve been scammed, you may be targeted by a refund or recovery scamRecovery Scam If you've already fallen for a scam, another scammer may call you and offer to get you your money back for a fee. Their goal is to double-dip and steal more of your money. Unfortunately, in most cases, only real law enforcement or your government can get your money back. There are exceptions, but you are safer to avoid all recovery options.. In these scams, someone says they can help get your money back or recover the prize or item you never got, but you need to pay them first. If you do, you’ll lose more money.
How Refund and Recovery Scams Work
Whether it’s a refund scam promising to get your money back or a recovery scam claiming to get you the prize or products you were promised, the scheme usually follows a set pattern. Here’s how it happens:
- You’ve already been scammed. You may have given money to a phony charity, paid for a fake prize, or lost money is one of the many other ways scammers try to cheat you.
- Your name is on what scammers call a “sucker list.” Scammers keep and sell lists on the darkweb with information about people who have already lost money to fraudFraud In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain (money or other assets), or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compensation) or criminal law (e.g., a fraud perpetrator may be prosecuted and imprisoned by governmental authorities), or it may cause no loss of money, property, or legal right but still be an element of another civil or criminal wrong. The purpose of fraud may be monetary gain or other benefits, for example by obtaining a passport, travel document, or driver's license, or mortgage fraud, where the perpetrator may attempt to qualify for a mortgage by way of false statements. A fraud can also be a hoax, which is a distinct concept that involves deliberate deception without the intention of gain or of materially damaging or depriving a victim.. It can include your name, address, phone number, the kind of scam that tricked you, and how much money you paid. Scammers buy, sell, and trade these lists, expecting that people who have been scammed once are good targets for being scammed again.
- Scammers come calling — again. Using a list of people who’ve already paid money to a scam, the scammerScammer A Scammer or Fraudster is someone that engages in deception to obtain money or achieve another objective. They are criminals that attempt to deceive a victim into sending more or performing some other activity that benefits the scammer. contacts you by phone, mail, or online. The pitch this time is that they’ll get back the money you lost or the prize or merchandise you never got. If you didn’t know you were scammed, no problem. The scammer, using the information they bought, can “helpfully” tell you about the earlier fraud. The information helps the scammer sound credible.
- They make you think you can trust them. The scammers may say they’re with a government agency, a consumer advocacy group, a law firm, a charity, or some other organization. Some even say they’re with the fake company that took your money, and they’re offering refunds to dissatisfied customers. They may say they’re holding money for you, offer to file complaint paperwork with government agencies on your behalf, or claim they can get your name at the top of a list for reimbursement. Whatever they say, it’s a lie, designed to gain your trust — and your money.
- You’re told you need to pay. The scammers promise to recover your money or merchandise, but they need you to pay them or give them financial information first. They may call the upfront money a “retainer fee,” “processing fee,” “administrative charge,” “tax,” “shipment and handling charge,” or even a “donation” to a charity they name. Or, they may say they need your checking, debit, or another financial account number so they can deposit a refund directly into your account. If you give them the requested fee or account information, your money will disappear.
How To Recognize Refund and Recovery Scams
- Scammers contact you and ask for an upfront fee. No matter how someone contacts you — by mail, online, telephone, or text message — it’s never a good idea to pay upfront, especially when someone contacts you out of the blue. And, telemarketers selling recovery services can’t ask for or accept payment until seven business days after they deliver the money or the item they recovered to you because it’s against the law.
- Scammers say they’re from a government agency, nonprofit group, or some other organization, and need payment or your personal information. Government agencies and legitimate organizations won’t ask for money to help you get a refund. They will never ask for your financial account numbers or other personal information and will not guarantee that you’ll get your money back. Anyone who does any of these things is a scammer.
How To Avoid Refund and Recovery Scams
- Don’t trust calls, letters, emails, or messages on social media from someone who says they can recover money you lost in a scam for a fee. You’ll lose more money.
- Never pay upfront for a refund or help with a refund. That means, never give your bank account, credit card, or other payment information to get a refund. Anyone who asks for your financial information or for upfront fees is a scammer.
- Know that only scammers will tell you to pay by gift card, cryptocurrency, or bank wire transfer through companies like Western Union or MoneyGram or Zelle. Anyone who asks you to pay in any of these ways is a scammer.
- Be suspicious if you get a supposed refund check for more money than you lost. Some scammers will say there was an error and tell you to cash the check, keep the amount you’re due, and return the balance. It can take weeks for a bank to discover that a check that it advanced was a fake. In the meantime, if you use the money, even to return some to the scammer, the bank will want you to repay all that money.
- Research any organizations or government agencies that contact you. For organizations or companies, search for the name online, with words like “complaint,” “scam,” or “review.” Check with your state attorney general, too, to see if other people have complained about the organization. For government agencies, look up their number on your own. Then call to confirm that they contacted you. Don’t call a number that a caller gave you.
What To Do If You Already Paid To Get a Refund
Scammers often ask you to pay in ways that make it tough to get your money back. If you’ve paid a scammer, the sooner you act, the better. Here are some steps to try to stop a transaction, get a transaction reversed, or get a refund.
Report Refund and Recovery Scams
If you’ve lost money to a refund or recovery scam, or have information about the company or scammer who called you, report it
- Always report these crimes to your local policeLocal Police The Local Police is your first responder in most countries. In most English-speaking countries and in Europe report to them first. In other countries look for your national cybercrime police units to report scams to. In the U.S., Canada, & Australia, you must report to the local police first. – they may have options available and you need the report number when reporting this to your bank
- Report to the FTCFTC The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) U.S. antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. The FTC can also act as a clearinghouse for criminal reports sent to other agencies for investigation and prosecution. To learn more visit www.FTC.gov or to report fraud visit ReportFraud.FTC.gov at https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/#/?orgcode=SCARS
- Report to your state attorney general’s office or national prosecutors office – they may help you directly or refer you ban to your police
- You can also report these to 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. at www.IC3.gov or 1-800-CALL-FBI
- And you can report these on www.Anyscam.com
When you report these crimes, you help law enforcement stop them and alert others in your community to the scam.
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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 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. 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!
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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
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