Social Delivery Is 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. GroomingGrooming Grooming is a form of setting up a victim for a scam or other crime by befriending and establishing an emotional connection with the victim, and sometimes the family, to lower the victim's inhibitions with the objective of the scam or criminal activity. Grooming includes the development of a trust relationship between the criminal and the victim, getting the victims to the point where they can be more completely manipulated. Technique
In the realm of online romance 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. or 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?, scammers employ a calculated technique known as “social delivery” to establish rapport and cultivate trust with their unsuspecting victims.
Social Delivery
Through this deceptive method, fraudsters go beyond mere virtual interactions and take their manipulation to a tangible level by sending packages filled with various enticing items. These packages often include charming tokens of their affection and commitment such as: teddy bears, watches, air pods, and even unexpected treats like pizza, drinks, and vibrant bouquets of flowers.
The term “social delivery” aptly captures this specific step in the progression of their grooming process, where the physical act of sending these gifts becomes a crucial tool for their fraudulent agenda.
Once the package is dispatched, the fraudsters cunningly request that the recipients take a photograph of themselves, in the presence of the delivered package, as a means to ensure its arrival. This seemingly innocent request plays a pivotal role in advancing 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.. By engaging the victims in this way, the scammers cleverly exploit their victim’s emotions, leveraging the excitement and gratitude elicited by the unexpected gift.
This visual confirmation serves a dual purpose for the criminals. On one hand, it provides them with tangible proof that their social delivery tactic has been successful, reinforcing their ability to deceive and manipulate their victims. On the other hand, it compels the victims to actively participate in the fake relationship, inadvertently deepening their engagement and susceptibility to further exploitation.
Within the intricate web of online forums and communication platforms where fraudsters gather, the concept of social delivery takes on a new dimension.
It becomes a shared language, a term familiar among these criminals who proudly display their ill-gotten achievements. On these virtual spaces, the fraudsters proudly showcase the images and stories of the packages they have sent, and more significantly, the victims captured in photographs alongside their delivered gifts. These uploads serve not only as a means of personal gratification for this class of fraudsters but also as a form of communication and validation within their nefarious community. It is a chilling display of their manipulative skills, a method to exchange tips, tactics, and celebrate their exploitative successes.
Why Engage In Social Delivery?
Scammers may sometimes send gifts and presents to their victims as a tactic to further manipulate and exploit them.
Here are a few reasons why scammers engage in such 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.:
- Establishing trust: By sending gifts, scammers aim to create a sense of trust and goodwill with their victims. The act of receiving a gift can evoke positive emotions and make victims more inclined to believe the scammer’s intentions are genuine.
- Reciprocity: Scammers exploit the principle of reciprocity, which is a social norm where people feel obliged to reciprocate when someone does something nice for them. By sending a gift, scammers hope that victims will feel obligated to reciprocate in some way, such as by providing personal information or sending money.
- Psychological manipulation: Scammers understand that emotions play a crucial role in their success. Sending gifts can triggerTRIGGERS A trigger is a stimulus that sets off a memory of a trauma or a specific portion of a traumatic experience. feelings of gratitude, guilt, or indebtedness in victims, making them more vulnerable to the scammer’s subsequent requests or demands. Scammers often employ various psychological manipulation tactics to exploit their victims. Sending gifts is part of a broader strategy that includes creating a false sense of urgency, exploiting vulnerabilities, and manipulating emotions such as fear, greed, or desperation. The goal is to cloud victims’ judgment and make them more susceptible to falling for the scam.
- Building a relationship: Scammers often adopt personas and pretend to be someone trustworthy or romantically interested. Sending gifts can be a part of the scammer’s strategy to build a deeper emotional connection with the victim, leading to a more prolonged and successful scam.
- Legitimacy and credibility: Some scammers may send counterfeit items or fake checks as gifts to create an illusion of legitimacy. By presenting themselves as generous and reliable, they attempt to establish credibility and convince victims that their subsequent requests or investment opportunities are legitimate. Scammers understand that trust is a crucial factor in successful 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.. By sending gifts, they aim to reinforce the perception that they are legitimate and trustworthy. Victims may interpret the gifts as evidence that the scammer is genuinely invested in their well-being, further solidifying the false trust.
- Overcoming skepticism: Scammers are aware that people can be skeptical when approached with fraudulent schemes. By sending gifts, they aim to disarm victims’ initial skepticism and make them more receptive to their subsequent requests. Victims may lower their guard, assuming that if the scammer is sending gifts, they must have good intentions.
- Encouraging continued engagement: Sending gifts can be a way for scammers to keep victims engaged in the scam. By receiving a gift, victims may feel more invested in the relationship or the promised benefits associated with the scam. Scammers exploit this emotional investment to prolong the interaction, increasing the likelihood of further monetary or personal information exploitation.
- Psychological impact: Receiving unexpected gifts can have a psychological impact on individuals. It can create a sense of surprise, excitement, and curiosity, which scammers leverage to maintain control over their victims. Victims may become curious about the motives behind the gifts or feel compelled to continue interacting with the scammer out of curiosity or a desire for more gifts.
In effect, the act of receiving gifts is another form of an Amygdala Hijack to produce additional hormones and neurotransmitters in the brain.
Gallery of Social Delivery
How Do Scammers Pay For Social Delivery?
Scammers have various methods for paying for the items they purchase as part of the “social delivery” technique.
You may remember that scammers involved in Romance Scams often have a “child” and ask that you buy a gift for them? Many many victims do just that, and this is where those gifts often go – to other victims!
Here are a few other common ways that criminals pay for these gifts:
- Stolen credit cards: Scammers often obtain stolen credit card information through illegal means. They may purchase items using these stolen credit cards, allowing them to pay for the gifts without their own funds being involved. This allows them to maintain anonymity and distance themselves from any financial transactions associated with the scam.
- Compromised accounts: Scammers may gain unauthorized access to legitimate accounts, such as online shopping accounts or payment platforms. By using these compromised accounts, they can make purchases without leaving a direct trace back to themselves. This method can involve using stolen login credentials or employing techniques like phishing to trick victims into revealing their account information. Or they can easily be purchased on the dark webDark Web This is a sub-level of the internet that normal search engines and everyday browsers cannot access. It’s an encrypted network that contains websites – both legal and illegal – that remain hidden from plain sight..
- Money mulesMoney mules Money mules are a type of money laundering where a person transfers illicit funds through a medium (such as a bank account) to obfuscate where the money came from. There are different types of money mules including witting, unwitting, and complicit.: Scammers may enlist the help of unwitting individuals known as money mules. These individuals are often recruited under false pretenses or are actual scam victims themselves, believing they are participating in legitimate business transactions. The scammers use the money mules’ bank accounts to receive funds from their fraudulent activities, including purchasing items for social delivery. The money mules are then instructed to transfer the funds to the scammers or make purchases on their behalf.
- Fake or fraudulent payment methods: Scammers may create fake payment methods or use fraudulent techniques to deceive sellers. For example, they may provide counterfeit checks, fabricated payment confirmation emails, or use stolen or fake financial account information. By tricking sellers into believing they have received payment, scammers can acquire the items for social delivery without actually paying for them.
- Money launderingMoney laundering Money laundering is the illegal process of concealing the origins of money obtained illegally by passing it through a complex sequence of banking transfers or commercial transactions. Money laundering can be done through various mediums, leveraging a variety of payment vehicles, people and institutions.: In some cases, scammers may use money laundering techniques to facilitate the payment for the items. They may utilize complex networks of transactions and transfers to obscure the origin of the funds and make it difficult to trace the money back to its illicitillicit Illicit means something that is not legally permitted or authorized under the law; unlicensed; unlawful. It can also mean disapproved of or not permitted for moral or ethical reasons. source. This method allows scammers to disguise their activities and use the proceeds of their scams to purchase gifts for social delivery.
It is important to note that all these methods involve illegal activities, and criminals are constantly evolving their tactics to stay one step ahead. To combat such fraudulent activities, it is essential for individuals and businesses to remain vigilant, exercise caution when conducting online transactions, and report any suspicious or fraudulent behavior to the appropriate authorities.
Victim Warning
In almost all cases, the items received by a victim are actually stolen property.
It is important to make sure that you itemize anything they receive when making a police report or they could be subject to a criminalCriminal A criminal is any person who through a decision or act engages in a crime. This can be complicated, as many people break laws unknowingly, however, in our context, it is a person who makes a decision to engage in unlawful acts or to place themselves with others who do this. A criminal always has the ability to decide not to break the law, or if they initially engage in crime to stop doing it, but instead continues. charge of receiving stolen property by the original owner. This is especially true if the items were purchased using stolen credit cards – the merchant will have only the victim to go after.
Be Aware
In light of these devious practices, it is crucial for individuals to remain vigilant and cautious when engaging in online relationships, especially when confronted with unexpected gifts from virtual acquaintances. Awareness of the social delivery tactic empowers potential victims to recognize the calculated manipulation behind these gestures. It serves as a reminder that sincerity and trust should not be solely based on material tokens but rather on genuine connections built over time, in which personal interactions and consistent behavior play a crucial role. By staying informed and cautious, individuals can safeguard themselves against falling victim to the intricate traps set by online romance fraudsters utilizing the tactic of social delivery.
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SCARS provides the leading Support & Recovery program for relationship scamRelationship 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? victims – completely FREE!
Our managed peer supportPeer support Peer support occurs when people provide knowledge, experience, emotional, social or practical help to each other. It commonly refers to an initiative consisting of trained supporters and can take a number of forms such as peer mentoring, reflective listening (reflecting content and/or feelings), or in a support group. Peer support is also used to refer to initiatives where colleagues, members of self-help organizations and others meet, in person or online, to give each other connection and support on a reciprocal basis. Peer support is distinct from other forms of social support in that the source of support is a peer, a person who is similar in fundamental ways to the recipient of the support; their relationship is one of equality. A peer is in a position to offer support by virtue of relevant experience: he or she has "been there, done that" and can relate to others who are now in a similar situation. Trained peer support workers such as SCARS Volunteers receive special training and may be required to obtain Continuing Education Units, similar to clinical staff. Some other trained peer support workers may also be law-enforcement personnel and firefighters as well as emergency medical responders. groups allow victims to talk to other survivorsSurvivor 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 and recover in the most experienced environment possible, for as long as they need. Recovery takes as long as it takes – we put no limits on our support!
SCARS is the most trusted support & education provider in the world. Our team is certified in trauma-informedTrauma-Informed Trauma-informed care shifts the focus from “What’s wrong with you?” to “What happened to you?” A trauma-informed approach to care acknowledges that health care needs to have a complete picture of a patient’s life situation — past and present — in order to provide effective care services with a healing orientation. Adopting trauma-informed practices can potentially improve patient engagement, treatment adherence, and health outcomes. care, grief 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., and so much more!
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We also offer separate 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. for family & friends too.
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SCARS Printed Books 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. counseling or therapy, qualified support groups, 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 scams 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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