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.™ 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. Basics: Why Do Scammers Always Ask You To Chat Somewhere Else?

Why Do They Ask To Chat Somewhere Else?

First, it is important to understand the risks of social media for scammers.

Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are high-value properties for scammers and they are easily lost. It takes time to create a profile and if they are talking with 20 victims they can’t have all of that activity on their profile. So they move each victim off to something that they can throw away, such as Hangouts. Or they move you to a private channel where others (especially victims) cannot see what is happening, such as Messenger or WhatsApp.

If they engage in too much activity on Facebook the 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. runs the risk of losing the profile and then losing contact with their “Clients” (meaning victims). This is why it is important to report profiles to Facebook so that they can be disrupted. However, as long as they have their separate communication channel the scam is protected from the outside world.

Second, scammers prefer to get you alone and they will increasingly apply manipulation to isolate their victims. This is part of their Gaslighting strategy to isolate you from family and friends, to get you communicating in a private place where others cannot see.

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

TAGS: Scammers, Chatting, Chat, Private, Messages, Messenger, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Hangouts, Google, GaslightingGaslighting Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation in which a person or a group creates the seeds of doubt in a targeted individual or group, making them question their own memory, perception, or judgment. It may evoke changes in them such as cognitive dissonance or low self-esteem, rendering the victim additionally dependent on the gaslighter for emotional support and validation. Using denial, misdirection, contradiction, and disinformation, gaslighting involves attempts to destabilize the victim and delegitimize the victim's beliefs. Once in this state the criminal can then more easily control the victim for their own purposes. Instances can range from the denial by a scammer that a scam has occurred, to belittling the victim's emotions and feelings, to the staging of bizarre events by the abuser with the intention of disorienting the victim. The goal of gaslighting is to gradually undermine the victim's confidence in their own a