The Elina Juusola Story By Jessica Morney & Elina Juusola – translated from Finnish Elina was the victim of love deception: “His cracked, raspy voice went directly into my nervous system” Love scams are becoming more and more common. Last year, Finns lost EUR 9 million in connection with love scams. The author and historian of ideas Elina Juusola has written about her own experiences of being deceived by a charming “military” on a mission abroad. Read More …
3 Smart Bank Strategies to Stop Scams By Ken Palla, Retired Director, MUFG Union Bank – Courtesy of BioCatch 3 Smart Strategies to Stop Scams That Don’t Break the Bank In the first part of this blog series on financial scams, Dr. Tim McGuinness and Debby Montgomery Johnson (also a scam victim herself), Board Directors at the Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams (SCARS) talked about how to interact with potential scam victims once there was a potential scam transaction alert. In this article, we will look at some specific initiatives Read More ...
Scam Victim Suicides Are Up – New Data Hints By SCARS Editorial Team – Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams Inc. Risk of Suicides in Scam and Financial Fraud Victims Is Sharply On The Rise Scams and financial fraud can have a devastating impact on victims, both financially and emotionally. In some cases, the emotional toll can be so great that victims may feel like they have no other way out but to commit suicide and take their own life. Suicides Risk The risk of suicide is especially high among elderly victims. Read More ...
Bank Customer Interventions By Ken Palla, Retired Director, MUFG Union Bank – Courtesy of BioCatch You Have a Customer Scam Alert, Now What? Recently, many of the more technically advanced financial institutions have worked to develop anomaly detection capabilities to detect financial scams (authorized transactions initiated by the real customer). These scams are inherently difficult to detect as it is the real customer doing the transaction. Legacy controls, such as known IP address, device fingerprint, and mobile phone location, all indicate that the real customer is doing the transaction. Some financial institutions, working Read More ...
Abstinence for Scam Victims – A Requirement For Healing By Tim McGuinness, Ph.D. – Anthropologist, Scientist, Director of the Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams Inc. The Crucial Role of Abstinence for Scam Victims: Navigating the Path to Recovery Introduction to Abstinence The prevalence of scams has risen to alarming levels – of course, scam victims all know that already. Scammers are constantly devising new and sophisticated ways to exploit unsuspecting individuals, leaving their victims emotionally and financially devastated. They are especially out looking for previous victims since they are even Read More ...
67 Year Old Money Mule Convicted By SCARS Editorial Team – Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams Inc. 67 Year Old Money Mule Faces 20 Years In Prison Clay County, Florida Woman – Money Mule – Pleads Guilty To Fraud Charge In Online Romance Scheme THIS COULD BE A LIFE SENTENCE FOR HER! Read More …
How Magical Biased & Delusional Thinking Enslaves Scam Victims By Tim McGuinness, Ph.D. – Anthropologist, Scientist, Director of the Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams Inc. The Enchanting Deception: Unraveling How Delusional Thinking Entraps Scam Victims The Shackles of Fantasy (Magical Thinking): In a world filled with the allure of magic and fantasy, it is easy to be captivated by extraordinary promises and grand illusions – this is the root of Magical Thinking. Unfortunately, this same allure can become a dangerous trap, leading individuals into the realm of delusional thinking. In Read More ...
Three Components Of Well Managed Victim Support Groups Part 1 of the SCARS Official Handbook for Scam Victim Support & Recovery Groups By Tim McGuinness, Ph.D. – Anthropologist, Scientist, Director of the Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams Inc. In The Creation And Management Of Victim Support Groups To Help Traumatized Scam Victims There Are A Range Of Required Components In this series of articles about victim support groups we will explore what those components are, the application of best practices, and how best to support victims through to stability and Read More ...
Scam Victim Resiliency – Why It Is So Much Worse After The Scam By Tim McGuinness, Ph.D. – Anthropologist, Scientist, Director of the Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams Inc. Resiliency After The Scam Is Over Is Rarely What Victims Think It Is! Before we can explore what resiliency is for scam survivors after the crime is over, we first have to explore what resiliency is. What Is Emotional Resiliency? Emotional resilience is the ability to adapt to and recover from difficult or challenging experiences. It is a dynamic process that Read More ...
Coming In Contact With Forced Labor Scammer Slaves By Rika Takebe, Vice Director, NPO Charms – a Janaese Nonprofit Supporting Japanese Scam Victims [on Facebook] What should I do if a scammer I had contact with reveals that they are a victim of human trafficking and forced labor by a fraudulent organization? There are limited direct actions you can take. While there is no guarantee of rescue, you can provide information to human rights organizations that fight against human trafficking. This may increase the chances of rescuing the forced labor victims. Read More ...
Bank Account Takeover Fraud Can Happen To You! A Victim's Story! By SCARS Editorial Team - Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams Inc. - Video by CBS This Chase Bank Account Customer Lost Here Life Savings To Bank Account Takeover Fraud And The Bank Blames Her! A small business owner lost her life's savings when scammers pretending to be Chase bank employees defrauded her out of $160,000 by taking over her account. Chase refused to refund any of her money, saying she did not take appropriate steps to protect her account. Experts say the bank Read More ...
Pedophile Extortion Scam By West Africans By French & Belgium Police, and SCARS Editorial Team – Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams Inc. Extortion Scam: West African Scammers Accuse Men Of Being Sexual Predators – Some Took Their Own Life! Police in France and Belgium say they have arrested 19 members of gangs involved in this extortion scam who sent people fake court summonses that accused them of viewing images of children being sexually abused. People who received the extortion messages were threatened with prosecution and tricked into paying thousands of Read More ...
A Proposal from SCARS to Reduce Bank Wire/Money Transfer Fraud By SCARS Editorial Team – Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams Inc. A Proposal To Reduce App Fraud In The Banking Industry SCARS introduces a new proposal for the banking industry to help stop Wire Transfer Fraud/Scams (Authorized Push Payment Fraud) at the point of contact. Almost all deterrents and education programs have failed to stop victims from sending money to criminals. Something more is needed. In the UK the bank employees call the local police to talk with victims and Read More ...
SCARS Petition: FTC – Victims Predators Please Help All Scam Victims! Please help all scam victims by petitioning the United States Federal Trade Commission to end predatory practices by companies preying on scam victims by claiming they can trace & recover scam victims’ money or perform investigations to track down and arrest scammers/fraudsters/criminals. Read More …
A Small Drop Of Insight About Victims’ Trauma By Tim McGuinness, Ph.D. – Anthropologist, Scientist, Director of Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams Inc. An Insight about Scam Victims and How To Help One of the great challenges that we have seen in long-term victims/survivors of romance scams (and all relationship scams) is that they never return to exactly who they were. Read More …