Why This Site?
The purpose of this site is threefold:
1) To assist those who’ve been scammed by allowing them to tell their stories and suggesting resources that may be available to help them;
2) To prevent people from being scammed in the first place; and
3) To educate people regarding the effects of scams.
Why Should I Tell My Story
Most people, when they realize they’ve been scammed, feel as though they’ve done something incredibly stupid, which leads them to in turn feel many emotions such as shame, regret, and guilt, especially if the scam hurt others as well as themselves. Thus, many don’t even report they’ve been victimized.
The truth is, however, that telling your story may prevent others from becoming a victim. So if you’ve been scammed, tell us. Provide us with as many details as possible, but please don’t share sensitive information.
Remember that these criminals are well practiced at what they do. They often find those who are most vulnerable, ie, the elderly, those who need something desperately like a home or a job (and yes, even romance), or they prey upon people’s fears by pretending to be someone they aren’t, particularly someone in authority like a government agent or an executive at the victim’s workplace. Because computer and smart phone technology is relatively unfamiliar to many, they may masquerade as support agents, often from a trusted company such as Microsoft or Apple, or as a bank employee claiming that the victim’s account has been hacked. Making matters worse is that phone ID’s can be spoofed, so that if a scammer calls a victim, it appears the call really is coming from where the scammers say it is. The same is true of email–the from field of an email is easily spoofed so that the email appears to be originating from a trusted source.
I have no data to back this up. But I personally feel strongly that anyone and everyone can be scammed, given the right time and circumstances.
One of the things these criminals do is to try to hurry things along. They don’t want their victims to stop even for a moment to think. They very often infuse their stories with a sense of urgency. But if you share the story of how you were scammed, and a person on the receiving end of a scam suddenly remembers how familiar this all sounded because they heard or read about what happened to you, then you might’ve just stopped a scammer dead in their tracks. In the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) podcast called “The Perfect scam, Alexis Conran, a British TV personality who had a long-running show called “The Real Hustle” said as much. So please–don’t hesitate to share what happened because you’re ashamed. It could help someone else.
If interested, you can find the podcast at:
AARP Perfect Scam with Alexis Conran
Another unique aspect of this site is advocating that everyone get a “scam buddy.” A scam buddy is just a friend who you can check in with when you believe you are being scammed. Hopefully you will both study this and other sites together so you can remind each other about the hallmarks of a scam. There will also be quizzes and checklists, both to check your knowledge and to allow you to assess quickly the likelihood that something you’re experiencing or have experienced is legitimate or a scam.
We also have a chat widget on this site so you can talk to someone, ither about a scam you’ve experienced or ask about whether something that may be occurring in the present is a scam. There is also a phone number you can call. It’s:
623 S O S twenty-four twenty-four. You’ll have to decipher how to dial SOS on the phone (it’s 767, btw), as well as translate the word twenty-four into its equivalent numbers 24), but it’s a necessary evil in order to keep the spammers away. As the site grows, we hope to have both facilities staffed on a 24hr basis.
Test Your Knowledge!