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.™ Insight: Good vs. Bad While Recovering

After 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., Many Victims Choose To Recover – Sadly, Most Do Not!

Only about 30% of victims will choose to recover from the scam emotionally, the remaining victims will either hide in their denialDenial Denial is a refusal or unwillingness to accept something or to accept reality. Refusal to admit the truth or reality of something, refusal to acknowledge something unpleasant; And as a term of Psychology: denial is a defense mechanism in which confrontation with a personal problem or with reality is avoided by denying the existence of the problem or reality. or allow angerAnger Anger, also known as wrath or rage, is an intense emotional state involving a strong uncomfortable and non-cooperative response to a perceived provocation, trigger, hurt or threat. About one-third of scam victims become trapped in anger for extended periods of time following a scam. A person experiencing anger will often experience physical effects, such as increased heart rate, elevated blood pressure, and increased levels of adrenaline and noradrenaline. Some view anger as an emotion that triggers a part of the fight or flight response. Anger becomes the predominant feeling behaviorally, cognitively, and physiologically. Anger can have many physical and mental consequences. While most of those who experience anger explain its arousal as a result of "what has happened to them", psychologists point out that an angry person can very well be mistaken because anger causes a loss in self-monitoring capacity and objective observability. to run their lives.

Even those that have chosen to recover face constant challenges and consequences of continuing bad behaviors.

However, to help victims learn to recover we have to be clear about what is positive 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. vs. negative behavior!

WHAT ARE POSITIVE BEHAVIORS? WHAT ARE NEGATIVE BEHAVIORS?

Especially in the context of a scam victims’ recovery?

Positive behavior is changing the behaviors and attitudes that got you scammed!

A major part of recovering is about avoiding 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. & scammers. It is about not letting yourself be put in situations where you have to make a judgment call about whether something is safe or not. Because that did not work so well the last time.

It is preventing or not allowing yourself contact with your past temptations, because MOST victims will be scammed more than once.

Negative behavior is repeating dangerous behaviors and being overconfident!

It is trusting your attitude and determination alone. It is thinking that just because you believe you can’t be scammed again that you will not. That attitude will fail you again and again.

One of the worst negative behaviors is that you continue to allow access to strangers. It is about reading the messages they send you. It is responding when they do. These are not good things.

EVERYONE SAYS NEVER AGAIN

But After Almost 29 Years We Know It Is Not True

88% of alcoholics relapse. Only 12% successfully recover. It is about the same for drug addicts. It is not about wanting to recover, it is about preventing their recovery with continued dangerous behavior.

Resisting a 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. is better than nothing, but by putting yourself in that position over and over you run the risk of being scammed again. Scammers are not so much smart as they are relentless.

There are thousands of different approaches, and once they know you will not fall for one approach they will try others.

AND THEY WILL TRY OVER AND OVER BECAUSE THE ODDS ARE IN THEIR FAVOR NOT YOURS.

They already know that you are susceptible to being scammed. In that regard you are like an addict, an addict is an addict for life. A scam victim remains a scam victim until they learn to not be one, and even then you can still be scammed.

YOU have to admit to yourself that you were scammed and you can be again. Everyone is scammed on some level all the time – when you buy a product and then get it and ask yourself what you were thinking? – you were scammed. There are countless examples of things we buy or do or say where we did not think it through and it turned out to be false – these were scams of one kind or another.

You Have To Acknowledge That You Do Not Know How To Recognize A Scam All The Time

Yes, maybe you can now recognize some scams now but certainly not all or even most.

The first thing you must understand is you cannot think your way out of scans. You have to change your behavior to prevent it or at least reduce the risk. Avoiding scams is the best way to not be scammed.

Avoiding all contact with strangers is the most important element in your defense.

Do not allow yourself to talk with a stranger and nothing will happening, because if you keep talking with them eventually it will.

This Is About The Numbers – The Average Victim Is Scammed Nearly Three Times!

Think about that – average – that means some are scammed once and some are scammed many many times. What is the difference between them? Eliminating risk in their lives and not relying on intellectual thought. Any security expert will tell you that safe habits make more of a difference than being smart.

Also, 70% of victims never recover from scams. They either remain in denialDenial Denial is a refusal or unwillingness to accept something or to accept reality. Refusal to admit the truth or reality of something, refusal to acknowledge something unpleasant; And as a term of Psychology: denial is a defense mechanism in which confrontation with a personal problem or with reality is avoided by denying the existence of the problem or reality. and stay emotionally broken or they let anger rule their lives.

Are you in the 70%? Or The 30% That Recover?

The way you know is if you work at your recovery and learn to not allow yourself to become a victim again. It is not attitude, it is actions.

Each event is a potential lesson. That is the point of this website and our 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. and the recovery process itself so that each person can learn from each other.

As much as support groups are a social group it is also a recovery group and there are hard truths and lessons to be learned. The foundation of why join a real support groupSupport Group 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. is to recover and we will do what we can to help that become a reality for each person in our support groups. But remember that most groups online are amateurs and incompetent. We are a registered professional crime victims’ assistance and support organization, and one of only 3 or 4 in the world. If you want to join one of our support groups just let us know.

But For Now! Stop Talking To Strangers. Period!

 

 

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SCARS™ Team
A SCARS Division
Miami Florida U.S.A.

 

 

TAGS: SCARS, Important Article, Information About Scams, Anti-Scam, Scam Victim Behaviors, Bad for Recovery, Good Behavioral Changes, Recovering From A Romance Scam, SCARS™ Insight

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