Have You Heard of Secondary Scams? These scammers target victims who have already been scammed, offering services to recover lost funds in an attempt to scam them again. These secondary scammers prey on the victims' desperation to recover their losses, setting up another trap to deceive them further.
They often involve impersonating authorities such as the police, legal advisors, or hacker organizations to gain the victim's trust and then coax them into paying more money or providing personal information. This article will delve into what secondary scams are, outline common secondary scam tactics, and provide guidance on the proper steps to seek help, ensuring you don't fall victim again.What is a Secondary Scam?
Secondary scam is a scam targeting individuals who have already been scammed. This kind of scams exploit the victims' urgency to recover their losses, using the previous scam experience as bait to carry out further deception.
These scammers often impersonate official agencies, legal advisors, or other professionals, using various tactics to trick victims into paying additional fees or providing more personal information, ultimately leading to even greater losses.
For example, they might offer victims a "scam recovery" service or pose as law enforcement, claiming to have caught the scammer and needing your cooperation in the investigation. During the interaction, they request payments for guarantees, processing fees, or other costs to continue the investigation.
But can you really recover the scammed money? No, once you realize something is wrong, they will disappear without a trace.
How They Can Approach a Victim
1. Search Engine Ads
When scam victims realize they've been duped, their first instinct is often to search online for recovery steps or organizations that can help. Unfortunately, scammers exploit this by targeting these keywords with Google search ads, making their fraudulent pages appear at the top of search results. Many people mistakenly click on these top links, assuming that higher rankings mean more reliable information. However, they often overlook that these are ads deliberately placed to deceive them.
2. Social Media
Social media is flooded with fake accounts that not only conduct romance scams but also facilitate secondary scams. These scammers often pose as victims, sharing their own "experiences" of being scammed and then recommending a private account or underground organization, claiming that they recovered their lost funds through them. These fake accounts even comment under posts from real scam victims, pretending to offer assistance while actually preying on their desperation.
Common Secondary Scam Tactics
1. Impersonating Police to Request Cooperation
Scammers often pose as police officers, informing the victim that their case has been "solved" and that they need to pay a "processing fee" or "guarantee deposit" to recover their funds. These scammers might even be part of the same organization that scammed the victim initially, giving them detailed knowledge of the previous scam and making their claims more convincing. Because victims tend to trust law enforcement, they may readily comply and pay the requested fees.
Common Phrases:
"Hello, I'm an officer from [name of police department]. We've made a significant breakthrough in your case, but you need to pay a processing fee to recover your funds."
"We've frozen the scammer's account, but according to regulations, you need to pay a security deposit before we can transfer the funds back to your account."
In some cases, scammers go as far as creating fake official government websites, like the example shown below, mimicking legitimate organizations such as FINTRAC (Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada). This deception leads victims to mistakenly seek help from these fraudulent sites when trying to report their cases.
2. Impersonating Legal Advisors Offering Assistance
Scammers impersonate legal advisors, claiming they can recover scam funds through legal procedures, but require payment of "consultation fees" or "verification fees" upfront. Victims, hoping to legally recover their losses, easily fall prey to such schemes.
Common Phrases:
"We are a reputable law firm specializing in fraud cases. Simply pay the consultation fee, and we can help you recover all your losses."
"To verify your identity and initiate legal proceedings, you need to pay a verification fee. This will enable us to proceed with recovering your funds."
3. Impersonating Hackers to Assist in Recovering Scam Funds
Secondary scammers impersonate hackers, falsely claiming they can infiltrate the scammer's systems to retrieve your funds, but require payment of a "security deposit" upfront. Victims may fall for this scam due to expectations of high-tech solutions.
Common Phrases:
"We are a renowned hacker group capable of breaching the scammer's systems and retrieving your funds. However, you must first pay a security deposit."
"Once you pay the security deposit, we can immediately initiate the operation to recover all your money."
Did you notice? Although secondary scams employ various tactics and phrases, they all aim to deceive victims into providing their personal information and paying upfront fees. This is a clear warning sign of a scam. If you encounter such situations, do not fall for it!
What to Do if You've Been Scammed? Safe and Effective Steps
1. Immediately Report to Authorities
Contact the police agency immediately to initiate fraud reporting procedures. Gather all relevant information, including contact details of the person you interacted with, records of conversations, receipts, and any other documentation. The more evidence you can provide, the stronger your case will be—especially if you're at risk of identity theft or have unknowingly assisted a scammer by running errands or providing passbooks.
2. Inform Your Bank
Notify your bank about the situation and request assistance in freezing the scammer's account and recovering funds. If the report is made promptly, banks can sometimes cooperate with the police to freeze suspicious accounts early, preventing the scammers from further transferring funds.
3. Seek Legal Assistance
If legal assistance is needed, choose reputable legal firms or lawyers rather than trusting strangers who claim to help recover your money. Established legal firms have professional teams of lawyers who can provide reliable legal advice and assistance.
4. Stay Vigilant and Verify Sources
Whenever receiving calls or messages claiming to be from law enforcement, legal advisors, or other organizations, it's crucial to verify their authenticity. Avoid disclosing personal information or making transfers without verification. Use official channels to confirm the caller’s identity to avoid falling victim again.
For calls claiming to be from law enforcement, pay attention to the phone numbers. Numbers with a prefix like "+" are likely from overseas and not from local authorities. Installing Whoscall is also recommended, as it maintains a database of over 2.6 billion phone numbers globally. It updates weekly with highly active numbers and identifies high-risk numbers using AI technology, including scams, telemarketing, and harassment calls. Whoscall instantly displays caller information for unknown calls.
Additionally, Whoscall now offers a website checking feature, called Web Checker. If you come across suspicious websites offering fund recovery services or similar, paste the URL into Whoscall’s app to instantly assess its risk rating.
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Secondary scam tactics are diverse, but staying vigilant and following the correct steps for seeking help can effectively prevent falling victim again. It's crucial for everyone to remain calm and protect their finances and personal information when faced with scams. Let's increase awareness together, resist scams, and create a safer social environment.
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