SCARS|ANALYTICS™ : New Study Finds Victims Not Reporting

A new SCARS|ANALYTICS Study finds that Anti-Scam Groups that post photos are convincing victims that reporting to police is not necessary!

[lwptoc]

SCARS|ANALYTICS Victim Reporting Study 2019

A study conducted by SCARS|ANALYTICS division over a 5 month period during 2019 of 9,263 scam victims shows surprising results.

As we all know, reporting crimes to the police and national police (FBI) is critical in helping government fully understand the scope of these crimes. Understanding helps government allocate resources and prioritize enforcement. This helps identify gaps in laws, treaties, and enforcement that can be corrected to enhance global and local police actions to reduce or stop crime.

Yet with the continued expansion of “one person” or small amateur scammer photo posting “groups” pretending to be real organizations, victims are becoming more confused than ever according to data collected and compiled by SCARS.

This suggests that most so-called “anti-scam” groups are committing fraud by misleading victims into believing that they perform services they do not, have expertise they do not, and have accomplishments they do not.

SUMMARY OF STUDY RESULTS:

Victim Results:

Relating To Reporting & Law Enforcement

• 81% of victims believe that photo posting Amateure “anti-scam” groups are all that is needed to report scams & scammers
• 72% of victims believe that photo posting “groups” investigate and “hunt-down” scammers resulting in arrests
• 56% of victims believe that amateur “anti-scam” groups are “Professionals” with experience in law enforcement
• 89% of victims believe that “exposing” scammers by posting photos is important to stop the spread of scamming online
• 98% of victims believe that posting the photo of a scammer helps stop the scammers – meaning stops them from scamming more victims
• 43% of victims believe that amateur/pretender “anti-scam groups” travel to Africa to identify scammers

Relating To Other Aspects of Pretender Anti-Scam Groups

• 60% of victims believe that amateur/pretender groups they frequent are nonprofit organizations (about 18% of amateur anti-scam groups falsely state they are)
• 71% of victims believe amateur “anti-scam” groups provide “counseling” for victims
• 88% of victims believe that amateur “anti-scam” groups have a history of success

As a result of these mistaken or false beliefs, it means that most scammers are not engaged in activities that actually do help reduce scamming.

Worse, it dramatically reduces reporting of scam crimes to law enforcement – allowing unlimited expansion of scamming worldwide.

• Only 3% of victims say they have reported their scam to their police, FBI or National Police – this appears to be down by 2% from 2017
• FBI and other government entities show increases in reporting – this is resulting from increased awareness of where to report for those victims that actually do report. This has resulted in an increase of 215% increase in reporting to the FBI – whereas previously victims would have only reported to Western Union or other financial institution alone.
• Even with the increase in reporting to the FBI (or other government agency) – fewer victims are indicating that they are reporting. 97% now say they are not reporting to the police or government.

In addition, the study confirmed long-help victim expectations:

• 67% of victims believe that after reporting cybercrime to their local police that the local police will “investigate” the crime and arrest a cybercriminal in another country
• 32% of victims believe that reporting is a waste of time and that government does “not care” about scam victims
• 81% of victims believe the situation is getting worse
• 92% of victims do not know how many scammers are being arrested per year

Summary Conclusions

We believe that the conclusions of this study are clear.

With the increase (in fact explosion) of amateur anti-scam groups on the webs and social media, it is creating a false narrative that these groups are addressing the law enforcement role in inhibiting cybercrime. That they are explicitly convincing victims that “exposing” scammers will stop scamming worldwide, and that these groups are playing an active role in direct enforcement.

Additionally, this study hints that many of these amateur groups are delivering unlawful mental health services directly to scam victims in the form of counseling – especially one-to-one counseling via chats and messenger. Which is taking place outside of the supervision of occupational licensing bodies, and the regulation of medical review boards around the world.

 

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

 

 

TAGS: SCARS, Important Article, Information About Scams, Anti-Scam Study, What Scam Victims Believe, SCARS|ANALYTICS, SCARS Scam Research & Analysis, Scam Victims And Urban Legends

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