Scams on the Internet are big business. Consumers reportedly lose more than $10 billion annually to them, and every year there is a new wave of scams to bilk people out of their hard-earned money. You may be a victim of such a scam and that’s why you’re here. We’ll do our best to help.
Giving your personal information to a potential scammer is a stressful situation where answers need to come quickly. Minimizing your risk when you are vulnerable requires time and decisive action. Here are several steps you can take to attempt to freeze out scammers from using your personal information.
Stop interacting with the scammers immediately
In short, the harm has already been done and there is no need to continue talking to the people who just stole your information. Block them by whatever means necessary. That means blocking their phone number if it happened over a call or text and their email if it was done over email.
That includes blocking them on messaging services as well. Discord scams are rather popular these days, so it’s not unusual to see a scam occur on a messaging service like that. In short, block them everywhere and don’t communicate with them anymore.
If the scammer has your payment info
The first step is making sure to cut off the scammer from your money and then attempting to recoup your losses. This is easier said and done since there is a lot of ways to send money to people these days.
If you paid with your credit card, debit card, or bank account
If you used your real bank account, debit card, or credit card, the first step is contacting your financial institution. This also applies to wire transfers through your bank account. I took a look at over 30 random banks and credit unions. The overwhelming majority of them have a fraud reporting helpline that is open 24/7.
Calmly tell your bank that you were the victim of a scam and that any money taken by them was fraudulent and unauthorized. Your bank may go through your recent purchases with you, so make sure to check your bank account transactions so you know which charge was the fraudulent one.
Many banks also have online reporting methods.
Per the FTC, your bank should be able to work with you on reversing those charges so that you get your money back.
In addition, you’ll want to have a new credit or debit card issued to you, and you’ll want to change the PINs on those cards once they arrive. It’s also a good idea to change your password to your bank account to something stronger.
If you paid a scammer with a wire transfer
The same rules apply here. Contact the wire transfer company and tell them that you have been scammed. All major wire transfer companies like MoneyGram and Western Union have fraud claim forms you can fill out and phone numbers you can contact. Once you get the forms filled out, you should be on your way to getting your money back.
If you paid a scammer with a gift card
Scammers going after gift cards is also something that happens fairly often and the method here is the same as above.
The FTC recommends contacting the issuer of the gift card and telling them that your gift card was the victim of a scam. Unfortunately, most sources say that you likely won’t get your money back, but quickly reporting the fraud will increase your chances, especially if you still have the gift card and the receipt showing that you paid for it.
If you paid a scammer by sending cash
This one can be one of the easier scams to recover from as packages can be intercepted and delivery ceased – assuming the scammer hasn’t already received the package. Below is a list of links and phone numbers you can use depending on which service you use. It may cost you a few bucks but it’s better than giving a scammer money.
If you used a different carrier, check their website for package intercept instructions or call their customer service number to have the package stopped.
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If you gave the scammer your personal information
Giving a scammer your personal information can have devastating ramifications. Fortunately, the solution is rather simple but you must act fast.
If you fear the scammer has enough information to steal your identity
The U.S. government has an identity theft tool that you can use to monitor your credit and identity in case someone tries to steal it. Here’s how it works.
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Go to IdentityTheft.gov
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Click the Get started now link
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Follow the prompts as directed.
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The tool will help you create a recovery plan.
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If the scammer has your social security number, you should also call the Social Security Administration’s fraud hotline at 1-800-269-0271 to report the fraud.
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Change any passwords, PINs, or other login credentials for any account that you suspect has been tampered with.
You can find more information about IdentityTheft.gov here, which has additional bits of advice to help you.
Another step you should immediately take is to freeze your credit. This is a relatively simple step to take that prevents anyone — including you — from taking out a new line of credit in your name. To save you some time, here are the links and phone numbers you’ll need to do that.
You can unfreeze your credit once the risk has been mitigated.
Finally, in addition to the above, the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) recommends documenting every interaction you have with the authorities and financial institutions. This includes (but is not limited to) the following:
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Log all dates, names, and phone numbers.
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Any correspondence sent through mail should be certified mail with a delivery receipt.
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Do not delete any emails regarding the issue.
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Keep all copies of physical letters and documents sent to you.
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Keep track of any expenditures you incur while fighting the scammer as these may be recovered in court if the scammer is caught.
If an account’s login credentials have been compromised
This can happen either through giving the scammer login access or through the many data breaches that hit the Internet every year. It doesn’t matter how the login credentials got out there because the answer to the problem is the same. Let’s go through the steps
If the hacker or scammer hasn’t logged into your account yet
This one is easy, change your password as soon as you can. Every service on the Internet that has accounts has a change password function and that’s what you’ll use.
We recommend using a strong password that isn’t close to what you had previously. If you want the strongest possible security, a random password generator grants the most comprehensive passwords that are the hardest to crack.
You should also immediately enable two-factor authentication on any account that has it. This extra layer of security makes it much more difficult to access your accounts even if they have the password.
While you’re at it, there’s a nifty online tool called Have I Been Pwned? that can help you see which accounts may be at risk. Simply go to the link above and enter your email address. You’ll get a list of websites. You should change your password at each website listed since the credentials are out in the wild.
One more thing to note. If you reuse passwords — which many people do — you’ll also want to change your password on any account that uses the same password that you gave to the scammer or was revealed in a data breach.
If the hacker or scammer has logged into your account
This is where things get difficult. If the scammer has taken your account and changed all of the information, it becomes very difficult to get that account back.
There are multiple reasons for this. The first is that every website has a different approach on how to recover a lost or stolen account and the methods for each one differ. The FTC has a helpful list of the most popular websites on the Internet, including Facebook, Reddit, YouTube, Google, Instagram, and others.
To start, the first thing you want to do is change your email password, assuming that isn’t the account that got hacked. If the scammer gets a hold of that alongside your social media account, it’s mostly game over.
After that, you’ll want to contact support for the service and do everything you can to get your account back. Anecdotally, this appears to be hit or miss with some folks getting their accounts back while others having to settle with making a new account and going at it from there. Those who were verified before being hacked — like Meta Verified — have a much larger success rate based on what we’ve seen. The only thing you can do is try your best as there is no quick and easy way to recover a stolen account
The reason is that your username and password are the credentials that you would use to prove the account is yours. If the scammer takes them over, changes the information, and adds things like two-factor authentication, then there’s virtually no way to resecure the account.
Protect yourself in the future
Being scammed sucks, for lack of a better word. If you did become the victim of a scam, then you already know how bad it is. Hopefully, the above information helped out in some way but the best way to avoid being scammed is to protect yourself in advance. Here are some small reminders to keep yourself safe in the future.
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Never give your password, ever. No legitimate business asks for your login credentials over the phone or chat. Ever.
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Use strong and varied passwords. If a scammer gets your password to one thing and you use the same password everywhere, then the scammer has access to your entire digital life.
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Always enable two-factor authentication along with account recovery options like a backup email or your phone number. Two-factor authentication makes account theft vastly more difficult.
There are plenty of other tips and tricks for avoiding scams as well. One of my personal favorites is bypassing the email and going straight to the source. When I get an email telling me that my Amazon account is compromised, I don’t click any links in the email, I go straight to Amazon and contact support directly.
Have a story to share about a scam or security breach that impacted you? Tell us about it. Email [email protected] with the subject line “Safety Net” or use this form. Someone from Mashable will get in touch.
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