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. COMMENTARY: The Truth About SCARS & What Haters Say
It is a new year and it is time for some hard truths and reflection as the year begins.
One of the things we are told over and over is how certain anti-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. hate groups, well … HATE US
Over the years we wondered why that was. We are fighting the good fight. We are helping thousands through our victims’ assistance efforts. We educate and transfer knowledge. We are real advocates that are not in anyone’s pockets (especially Facebook’s).
Yet we are hated by some of these “groups”
Well, it turns out that we are only hated by people that we applied our ethical standards and code of conduct to. In other words, we hold the line on ethical 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. in the face of cybercrimeCybercrime Cybercrime is a crime related to technology, computers, and the Internet. Typical cybercrime are performed by a computer against a computer, or by a hacker using software to attack computers or networks. and that upsets some people.
We ask that our employees, volunteers, affiliates, representatives, and members behave in ethical and honest ways, and when we have caught people not behaving in this way we address it.
In some cases, the violations were significant and we revoked the membership and banned some of them. And from that point on the hate set in.
Of course, these folks also have created “groups” (but in reality it is almost always one or two people that run them – regardless of how many admins they claim). They have no applicable experience and are doing little more than scamming the people that flock to them by their claims of experience and knowledge.
They use their groups to make sure the victims who have come to them for help are turned away from professionals. This sadly lengthens the time it takes them to recover, and they will learn little more than urban legends and fake newsFake news Fake news is false or misleading information presented as news. It often has the aim of damaging the reputation of a person or entity, or making money through advertising revenue. However, the term does not have a fixed definition and has been applied more broadly to include any type of false information, including unintentional and unconscious mechanisms, and also by high-profile individuals to apply to any news unfavourable to his/her personal perspectives. from these so-called groups.
This is what so many anti-scam groups do on Facebook and elsewhere, especially those that just believe in posting endless 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. photos and scambaiting. Wasting their time looking at endless fake faces reinforcing 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. instead of focusing on recovery and healing.
Regardless, SCARS is different and completely transparent in what we follow and expect from our members. This is for the benefit and safety of our members and all victims. The fact that the haters hate us for it means we are acting to police this activity for the benefit of all.
You may very well have heard from these anti-scam hate groups about how we did this or did that. Just remember, you were scammed once and believed the fairy tales you were told.
Either way, in 2019, like the four years before SCARS will continue to set the bar very high, and not everyone has the integrity to meet our standards, but that is how it should be.
If you want to learn what SCARS stands for just visit our website AgainstScams.org and