What to do if you have been scammed?
Report Scam
This text is copied with approval of the respectable Elena Petrova. Owner of Russian Women Cyber Guide and author of the one and only Anti-Scam Guide
What to do if you have been scammed:
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Apply to your local state or federal enforcement agency with information and request for assistance. (It is the nearest police station where you would report a house burglary, for example.)
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Report it to the Internet Fraud Complaint Center of FBI at http://www1.ifccfbi.gov/
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Send a complaint to the Embassy of the country where the scammer resides AND their Embassy in your country - for example, if you live in USA and the scammer resides in Russia, you should send your complaint to the Russian Embassy in USA and USA Embassy in Russia.
Send it via registered mail, and include with your report:
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Name and surname of the scammer (the person on whose name the money was sent, even if it is different from the name of the person your were corresponding with).
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Details of the scam - a complete story including dates, names of the persons and agencies, printed copies of letters, copies of Western Union receipts etc.
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Request to hand your complaint to the Ministry of Home Affairs of the country where the scammer resides (where you have sent the money to) and request to prosecute the scammer.
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Your name, address, email address and phone number.
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Print the complaint, number the pages and initial every page, sign the last page.
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Include a copy of your ID/passport (page with your name and photo).
Such a complaint will be
considered as an official statement, and can be used by
authorities to initiate a criminal investigation, and, possibly,
recover your money.
Without official complaints authorities are not able to prosecute scammers.
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Inform the agency/website where you have found this person (or where s/he has found you), giving them all details of the scam and asking to remove the scammer from their pages. Request response.
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Inform the service provider where the scammer's email account has been registered, and ask them to disable this address. Request response.
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Use aliases POSTMASTER and WEBMASTER; so if the address was somebody@mail.ru report it to postmaster@mail.ru and webmaster@mail.ru. Forward them the letter with money request and the story of how you have been scammed.
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If you have sent money to a scammer via Western Union, report it to Western Union fraud department and customer support department. Request response.
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Send a report to the Black List. Click here how to report your story at the blacklist of Russian Women Cyber Guide
