SCARS Policy Clarification:

SCARS is an organization that assists victims of online 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. and 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..

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. are specifically for those affected by these crimes – meaning online crimes where the victim never really knows the 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.. You can learn more about us at www.AgainstScams.org

We do not offer 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. services for victims of all crimes – our funding simply does not permit this.

Specifically, we are not for those who have actually met their criminal – who is in their same region – that is a different kind of crime – more normal fraud. While there may be a romance element, and even an online component, it does not make it a romance 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.. There have been “bunco” or con artists since the beginning of time. While all of these are fraud, they are not online or romance scams or 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..

If we do not accept someone for our support groups it is because they do not fit with the victim category that we support.

We provide services for a specific category of victims, and not for everyone.

As a nonprofit, we provide services for those that we can help and are happy to refer other types of victims to services that may be able to help them.

We cannot do everything. We do what we can and help those that we can. Even as the largest provider of support services of scam victims we have the services that we have.

Unfortunately, this produces conflict when a victim who is desperate cannot join one of our groups. But it is what it is. We cannot help everyone, but we do try to direct everyone to help they may need.

However, this is not always what someone wants.

We also refer victims to professionals who may have more serious mental healthcare needs. Not everyone can be helped by a support group setting. Or if they need legal or financial services. This is in compliance with our own ethical standards, and the NOVA standard for crime victims’ assistance.

Anyone that is in need of professional 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. support, here is a directory of trauma counselors and therapists: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/trauma-and-ptsd

Those that need legal or financial support should visit their state/province or national licensing bodies or professional associations for directories of these professionals – such as the American Bar Association.

We provide the services that we provide and are the world leader in what we do. We make determinations if each person is suitable for the services that we provide. If we feel they are not, we refer them, whenever possible to other services or professionals.

We also publish extensive free information to help victims through avoidance, recognition, and recovery on our www.RomanceScamsNOW.com. We also publish our recovery program guide in book form at the SCARS store at http://shop.AgainstScams.org

Additionally, we do not allow spectators or outside observation in our support groups for the confidentiality of these groups and their victims/members who place their faith in us. Any professional or entity that would like access to our support groups may contact us at contact@AgainstScams.org to explore this with us.

We wish every victim well, and we do our best to help all that we can.

SCARS Management
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.

An incorporated government registeredgovernment-registered It means to be registered with departments or agencies of the government. In the case of SCARS, we are registered with state and federal governments in the United States, Europe & Asia. SCARS is registered as a crime victims' assistance nonprofit with agencies of the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security. And is incorporated in the State of Florida as a nonprofit corporation. nonprofit crime victims’ assistance and crime prevention organization.
U.S. State of Florida Registration N20000011978 [“SCARS” DBA Registered G20000137918]

www.AgainstScams.org //www.RomanceScamsNOW.com // contact@AgainstScams.org