Last Updated on September 6, 2020 by SCARS Editorial Team

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 New Horror Show – The California Consumer Privacy Act

Are You Aware That The World Just Changed?

Just like the Communications Decency Act of 1996 that made it possible to create social media, there are always unintended consequences.

The new California law – the CCPA – is full of potential unintended consequences – one of them is it actually makes it easier for scammers to access your data!

Under the new CCPA consumers have the right to request their data be deleted, as well as the right to know what data is being collected, the purpose of the collection and with whom it is shared.

Learn more about the new law here :: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Consumer_Privacy_Act

Since someone might impersonate a consumer in order to obtain their personal information for use in 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. schemes, the CCPA requires businesses to “promptly take steps to determine whether the request is a verifiable request” — but it provides little guidance on what steps are necessary and reasonable.

Moreover, it requires them to respond to requests within 45 days.

Under that pressure, businesses with few compliance resources might fall prey to fraud in their rush to respond.

For example, if 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. impersonates a Californian consumer they can request a copy of all data about that consumer, without the real consumer ever knowing. Does that sound like a good situation?

And this new law takes effect on January 1, 2020 – in two months!

Now consider a business like SCARS!

We offer 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., scammer reporting, comments, and much more – all contain consumer data that you have voluntarily provided. We do not believe that we have to comply because we are a real nonprofit, BUT if we did it would be impossible to track, compile, and deliver on-request all data about a specific individual consumer.

The result is that if this new law does apply to us, we will have to shut down all processes that collect consumer information, or simply ban all Californians.

• That means we would have to stop and erase all scammer reports.
• Stop all support groups.
• Shut down all pages that allow comments – which is all of them.

Now, in the case of Facebook – we can argue that this is Facebook’s responsibility, but not on our own websites.

Thus Unforeseen Consequences!

As a result, we are being told that huge numbers of websites will be phasing out comments or other consumer interaction because of the difficulty and cost of complying with the new Califonia law.

We keep saying that elections have consequences. Now you are seeing one example of this.

SCARS is a firm believer in protecting the rights of all victims. However, this new law makes every online user a victim.

We will keep you informed about how this progresses and what actions SCARS will be taking. This is not like the European GDPR, this is significantly more difficult and potentially catastrophically costly.

 

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

 

 

TAGS: SCARS, Important Article, Information About 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., 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., SCARS™ Special Report, California Consumer Privacy Act, CCPA, New Privacy Law, California Consumer Privacy Rights

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