We’ve all heard of the horror stories about people being scammed online, falling for elaborated tricks on the Internet to pay a significant amount of money to trade online. Sure, you might think that this will never happen to you… But you never know!
Financial scam victims are part of different age groups, countries socioeconomic levels, and sectors. And with today’s technology, scammers have made their pitches so realistic, that anyone would believe it’s real.
Don’t feel ashamed if ever you fell victim to a scam. Those behind such scams are masters when extorting money out of others. If you have been scammed and found out about it now, then you need to take action as soon as possible.
Do NOT wait any longer to intervene, because the longer you’ll wait, the more difficult it will be to gain full funds recovery. That said, here are the steps you must take immediately after you found out you were scammed:
Cancel all credit card payments
Do NOT panic. You just need to act quickly. Once you feel like something is wrong, cancel all further payments you will make to the scamming company right away.
You may even want to consider canceling your credit cards entirely as scammers may use your credit card information for other billings and purchases.
Delete your account
This is probably an obvious move, but you’ll be shocked by how many victims forget to do this. While deleting and deactivating your account won’t exactly stop any future billings, it will let the scammer know you are on to them and a signal for them to discontinue the scamming.
Doing this will also be crucial for possible court hearings in the future, which may be required during the process of getting your money refunded.
When you have any proof that you approached the scamming company and officially asked that they stop taking your finances, then you might have an even better case in front of the judge. This is especially if the scamming company kept on billing, you after deleting your account.
Report it to the local authorities
Once you have taken all the measures to make sure there won’t be any billing done by the scammers, you can start taking legal action against them by filing a formal complaint. You can start from the nearest police station, where you will fill up a complaint form.
Keep copies of all the forms and applications you will fill up and submit, as this would come in handy as you go through the process of retrieving your money.
However, the step doesn’t stop at the local police station. There are countries and local communities with special bodies that deal with online frauds, such as cyber defense authorities and consumer rights bureaus.
The more complaints filed in the appropriate offices, the better the chances you will take future legal steps. Furthermore, think about getting your money back AND by closing the scamming company or placing the scammer behind bars. Doing this step will help in just that.
Consult with experts
Once you have done everything and made the appropriate reports, the next step is to get the money back from the scammers. This may be a long and tiring process as scammers will also know how to keep the money, avoiding you and any claims made at all costs.
While police investigations can help, it’s usually not enough. You will have to take more action against the scammers, and you’ll need to do it quickly.
There are companies that specialize in these types of services. Experts will listen to your complaint and see what they can do to help.
Just make sure that you have all of the relevant paperwork and see if the company you work with will provide offers that suit you. Furthermore, make sure that the experts you work with are reputable and known for their excellent services, providing positive feedback from their previous clients.
While you can attempt to do the process on your own, this will end up being a long, exhausting investigation that would lead to an equally long (or longer), exhausting legal process.
Wrapping It Up
Remember, you are not alone in these scams, with millions of people around the world reporting how they fell victim to the same schemes. Never hesitate in doing your best to get your money back just because of shame. Take the appropriate steps and make sure that you voice out your concerns to make sure it doesn’t happen to someone else.
Hopefully, you learned a lot about the steps one should take after being scammed. If you or a loved one fell victim to these extortionists as well, follow these steps right away.
If you have any questions or want to share your own tips and experiences with online scams, share them in the comments section below. All of your thoughts will be much appreciated.
