You may be more vulnerable than you think. Below are a few questions to ask yourself. The more information we have, the better we can protect people from these frauds in the future.”īefore you say it’d never happen to you, know that there are at least 30 popular cons according to the FBI website and more that crop up all the time. “However, we want to encourage anyone who has been victimized by this fraud or unsuccessfully targeted to contact law enforcement and file a complaint with the FBI’s IC3.
When they determine they have been exploited, they may feel embarrassed, ashamed, or humiliated and may not want to share their victimization with anyone, let alone report it to law enforcement. “When looking at romance or confidence scams,” Kulstad says, “many times, victims are emotionally attached to the individual with whom they believe they are in a relationship. That’s up from 2019, when IC3 reported more than 19,000 victims, with estimated losses of more than $475 million. In 2020, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center ( IC3) received complaints from more than 23,000 people claiming they were victims of romance/confidence scammers, resulting in approximate losses of $600 million.
“While the types of scams may vary (romance scams, elder fraud, phishing, etc.), the goal is the same: to steal something of value from their victims,” Michael Kulstad, public affairs advisor for the FBI’s Office of Public Affairs, tells Tudum.
Modern-day cons are often online, but the idea of enticing someone to believe something false is a tale as old as time. Things have changed somewhat since the days of Robert Hendy-Freegard’s crimes in the ’90s and early ’00s, as shown in the Netflix series The Puppet Master. It’s the last thing you’d expect but maybe one of the first things you should be aware of: An innocent person can be robbed of their identity, life savings, tangible assets (heirloom or precious jewelry, land, collectibles) or even their home, all through a persuasive con.
0 kommentar(er)
