Taking legal action against scammers is a great way to get your money back, by contacting fraud lawyers, involving your bank and making a report to the authorities you can increase the likelihood that you will get your money back. But before this article explains this in more detail we will provide you with common ways overseas fraudsters scam people and how to avoid being scammed yourself.
Common Ways An Overseas Fraudster Scams People
Advance Fee Fraud
If you have ever heard of the Nigerian Prince scam you have heard of advanced fee fraud, but just in case you haven’t; the Nigerian Prince scam involves someone claiming to be a Nigerian prince sending out a significant amount of communications including emails, text messages, social media messages and phone calls.
Within these communications, the fake Nigerian Prince will claim to be very wealthy, but they need your help to transfer their money from overseas. However, before anything like this happens they will ask you to send over a sum of money to help their situation somehow, and in return, they will promise that they will give you a larger sum back than what you initially gave them. All that will happen when you send over your hard-earned money to them is that they will keep it and their scam tactics will have worked.
To avoid this scam you should never send money to individuals that you don’t personally know online, you should instead block the sender of the email so that they do not send you any more emails in the future.
Romance Scams
Romance scams involve fraudsters pretending to be a persona that they have fictitiously created, they will contact people through digital communications and begin speaking to them in an attempt to get the victim to develop romantic feelings for the fake persona the scammer has created; this stage can take anywhere from several weeks to multiple months, if a scammer can get a victim to feel romantic feelings about them they have a better chance of manipulating them.
They could make claims such as they need to borrow money from the victim because they are behind on their bills, if the victim is head over heels with the persona the scammer has created they are likely to send money to help their romantic flame. This process could go on for a while, eventually leading up to the scammer claiming that they want to travel to the victim’s country and meet them in person; this is likely a situation the victim wants too. But there is one problem, the scammer doesn’t have enough money to pay their travel costs to arrive in the victim’s country and needs the victim’s help financially to help make this happen.
Instead of meeting their digital partner in real life, the victim is often left waiting in an airport with nobody coming to meet them. They may try to message or call the person they have been speaking to online but will no longer receive any response, the scammer will have likely blocked all forms of communication.
To avoid romance scams you should always attempt to meet with anyone that you are speaking with online but haven’t yet met as soon as possible. You should also attempt to speak with them using a video call instead, this allows you to see the person you are speaking to which reduces the chance of you being scammed by a romance scammer.
Phishing Scams
Phishing is where scammers send emails out to a large number of people, within the email the scammer may claim to be someone of authority such as from the government or a representative of a utility company. The email may claim that the recipient has an outstanding balance due to pay or even that they are being refunded money from the company they believe they have received the email from. Within the email, there will be a link, and if clicked by a victim malware will be downloaded onto their device; which will allow scammers to gain access to the personal information on their computer.
Scammers may also use a type of malware called a keylogger which logs every keystroke the victim types into their keyboard. Scammers will then be sent this information, they can then search the information for potential passwords and email addresses. Using the rest of the keylogging data they can access the online accounts of victims, potentially leading them to be able to make unauthorized purchases.
To avoid phishing scams you should avoid clicking links in emails. Instead, you should search for the company on Google and enter the website that way. This means that you will not click a fake link.
How To Take Action Against An Overseas Scammer
Contact Your Bank
Once you realize you have been scammed you should contact your bank as soon as possible, they may be able to stop payments from processing or refund the money back to your bank account. Representatives at your bank will be able to provide you with individualized support based on your particular circumstances, they will also be able to give you advice that can help you avoid being scammed in the future.
Contact A Fraud Lawyer
In addition to your bank, you can also opt to contact a lawyer who specializes in fraud recovery and who will be able to maximize the chances of you getting your money back. Fraud recovery lawyers will know or at least have access to knowledge that can assist them in obtaining money that you have been scammed out of by an overseas scammer.
Contact The Authorities
Contacting the authorities in your country may also be a good option to increase the chances of the scammer being brought to justice so that they do not scam anyone else. Even if the scammer is overseas there is a chance that they may be found and detected by the local authorities in their area. Once found you have a higher chance of receiving your money back.
Conclusion
After you realize you have been scammed it is important to act as soon as possible to maximize the chances of getting your money back, you should also educate yourself on scam techniques to reduce the chances of you falling for another scam in the future.
