Scam Victim

How to Evaluate Your Own Mental Health After a Scam

How to Evaluate Your Own Mental Health After a Scam After a scam, you protect your safety and rebuild stability by evaluating your mental health, recognizing signs like betrayal trauma, dissociation, and brain fog, and choosing clear next steps. Key Topics: Understanding Betrayal Trauma Basics Recognizing Dissociation & Its Impact Assessing Cognitive Dysfunction - How You Think You Are Thinking Awareness of Other Potential Disorders Moving Forward with Self-Compassion After the Scam Ends, Your Mind is in Turmoil About 97% of Scam Victims Suffer from Betrayal Trauma - You are Not Alone Please Note: This is to help you understand your mental health. Experiencing trauma does not mean you are crazy or mentally ill. It means you have experienced something terrible and have been injured. The only goal should be to heal. A Compassionate Guide to Evaluating Your Mental Health After a Scam You've taken a courageous step by exploring how a scam may have impacted your mental health. Being scammed isn't just a financial hit; it can shake your sense of trust and stability. This brief guide helps you assess your well-being, focusing on betrayal trauma, dissociation, cognitive dysfunction, and other potential challenges. We'll use simple questions and tips to reflect on your experiences in a safe, non-judgmental way. You're not alone, and healing is possible. Let's begin. Understanding Betrayal Trauma Betrayal trauma often hits hardest after a scam, especially when someone you trusted, like in a romantic partner or investment advisor, turns out to be deceptive. It is a betrayal of your trust, and it hits hard, harder than you could have imagined. It feels like a personal violation, an act of violence, as if the ground beneath you has shifted. You might feel angry at the scammer, frustrated with yourself, or struggle to trust others. Physical signs can include restlessness, headaches, or a tight feeling in your chest. To check if betrayal trauma is affecting you, ask yourself these questions: Are you finding it hard to believe in people's good intentions? Have you pulled back from friends or family out of Read More ...

SCARS Support Team2025-08-15T05:09:32-04:00Categories: New Victim Support Basics|Tags: Mental Health, Scam Victim, Scam Victims|

How to Recognize You are in the Multiple Scam Trap and How to Climb Out

Breaking the Cycle of Repeat Scam Victimization How to Protect Yourself from Being Scammed Again! Understand: repeat victimization happens to many intelligent, capable people, especially after a romance or investment scam. Being scammed once does not mean you are immune to the next time, and it does not mean you are at fault if you are targeted again. Key Topics: A Step-by-Step Recovery Process on How to Avoid Future Scams Why Avoiding Repeat Victimization Is So Difficult Separate the Scammer’s Actions from Your Sense of Self Practice Structured Self-Protection You have been Scammed Multiple Times. Now What Do You Do? About 15% of Scam Victims are Scammers 3 or More Times - You are Not Alone You are Caught in a Multiple Scam Trap. Now Let's Get You Out of It! You have already endured the emotional and financial harm of a scam. The betrayal has left scars that may not be visible, but they are real. You may still be dealing with the shock of realizing the person or relationship you trusted was built on lies. Yet, without noticing it, you might be moving toward another trap. This is not because you are careless or unintelligent. It is because the same vulnerabilities that were exploited once can be exploited again, and the emotional state following the first scam can make you more, not less, susceptible. Many victims of romance scams experience this painful cycle. After losing substantial sums to a scammer, you may be contacted by someone who claims they can help you recover your money, arrest the criminal, or even restore your lost relationship. They may present themselves as a police officer, an investigator, a lawyer, or an insider who knows exactly what happened to you. They speak in ways that match your hope for justice or resolution. This is where the danger grows. Instead of recognizing these new people as potential scammers, you may feel relief that someone finally understands and wants to help. That relief can quickly turn into trust, and trust into another financial loss. The stakes are not Read More ...

SCARS Support Team2025-08-10T03:01:42-04:00Categories: New Victim Support Basics|Tags: Multiple Scam Trap, Scam Victim, Scam Victims|

Forgiving Yourself After Surviving a Romance or Investment Scam

Forgiving Yourself After Surviving a Romance or Investment Scam How to Forgive Yourself After Surviving a Scam! Understand this: everyone can be scammed, and everyone deserves forgiveness Key Topics: A Step-by-Step Recovery Process on How to Forgive Yourself Why Self-Forgiveness Is So Difficult After a Scam Separate the Scam from Your Identity Practice Structured Self-Compassion A Step-by-Step Recovery Process: How to Forgive Yourself After Surviving a Relationship or Investment Scam Falling for a trust-based scam leaves deep emotional wounds that go beyond financial loss. Romance scams and investment cons often depend on emotional connection, personal trust, or the belief that you were building something real with another person. Scammers create false relationships, carefully designed to lower your defenses and exploit your hopes. When that illusion collapses, the damage cuts through more than your bank account. It strikes at your sense of judgment, your confidence, and often your identity itself. After this kind of betrayal, self-blame becomes almost automatic. You may tell yourself you should have known better or believe the lie that you were weak or naïve. Shame sets in quickly, making you question your intelligence, your ability to judge character, or even your worth as a person. These feelings do not just appear temporarily. If left unchecked, they can solidify into distorted beliefs that damage your mental health and trap you in cycles of regret or emotional paralysis. Self-forgiveness is the only way to break that cycle. Forgiving yourself does not mean excusing what happened or pretending the scam was acceptable. It means reclaiming your emotional stability and self-worth. It gives you permission to separate the scam from your identity. When you choose to forgive yourself, you stop allowing the scam to define your future or destroy your confidence. This process is grounded in well-established recovery tools. It draws on trauma psychology, self-compassion research, and proven methods for rebuilding mental and emotional resilience. Learning to forgive yourself is not about false positivity or ignoring reality. It is about facing what happened with honesty, rebuilding your sense of control, and making sure the scam remains Read More ...

SCARS Support Team2025-06-26T08:53:22-04:00Categories: New Victim Support Basics|Tags: Forgive, Forgiveness, Forgiving Yourself, Scam Victim, Scam Victims|

For Police Officers: Interacting With Scam Victims And How To Make A Difference

For Police Officers: Interacting With Scam Victims And How To Make A Difference Guidance for Local Law Enforcement to help better understand the ways to impact these crimes and better support scam/fraud/cybercrime victims Helping Police Officers better understand their options and how to help victims! Key Topics: How to Support Victims How to take Action against Money Mules Interacting with Victims in Denial Understanding Victim Trauma For Police Officers: Helping You Interact with Scam Victims and How to Make a Difference Basic Guidelines on Approaching & Interacting with Victims of Cyber-Enabled Crime (Online Scams) and Actions YOU Can Take! Background In the United States alone there are more than 50 million scam victims and that number is growing by 20 million a year or more, not to mention the rest of the world. Every country is being flooded with scams, fraud, and cybercrime cases. It may seem like there is nothing you can do to help victims or stop these crimes, but that is not true - there is much you can do to help. Scam/Fraud/Cybercrime Victims The way people cope as victims of crime depends largely on their experiences immediately following the crime. As a law enforcement officer, you are usually the first official to approach victims. For this reason, you are in a unique position to help victims cope with the immediate trauma of the crime and to help restore their sense of security and control over their lives. In the case of internet or phone-based scam victims, especially of “Romance Scam” victims – there is not a typical crime scene. Normally the victim is a walk-in or a phone-in. This is typically the first contact where officers are able to address victims and their needs. Optional for Scam Victims SCARS RED BOOK - Your Personal Scam Evidence & Crime Record Book available at shop.AgainstScams.org This publication recognizes that each crime is different and requires officers to prioritize their performance on tasks in each situation. We know that generally, officers must attend to many tasks, including Read More ...

SCARS Support Team2024-05-05T09:35:19-04:00Categories: Other Information|Tags: After the Scam, Local Police, Police Officers, Reporting the Scam, Scam Victim, Scam Victims, Support & Recovery Program|

Scam Victims Reporting Scams And Interacting With The Police

Scam Victims Reporting Scams and Interacting with the Police A Checklist of what to do Before Speaking with the Police and While You are Reporting Scams! Helping You Get What Is Possible from the Police and Helping You Consider Your Options! Key Topics: Create a Crime File Write a Crime Summary Know Your Rights Preparing to Go to the Police and Reporting Scams The SCARS Police Interaction Checklist For Reporting Scams It is Vital to Report EVERY Scam Reporting Scams is one of the problems that all scam victims face. They do not know what to say, how to report the information they have, or what is realistic when initially speaking with the police or government agencies. The process of reporting scams is not always easy but it is absolutely necessary. What can make it easier is making sure you are prepared when reporting scams and that your expectations are not unrealistic. The sooner you do this the better because there may be options for recovering your money too! The secret to reporting scams is to go in prepared, have no expectations, give them what they want, and listen carefully. We also recommend that you go in with a support person who can help you to better understand what the police are telling you – you may be very traumatized. In addition, reporting is your way to declaring your innocence if anyone ever questions it. Reporting Scams STEP 1: Create A Crime File After a scam you are shocked and confused, maybe even afraid, so you don’t know how to begin or what to do. The first step is to start collecting the evidence – because that is what it is. It is evidence of a crime, and online crimes are real crimes! This is the basis for reporting scams. DIGITAL FOLDER You will need to create a digital folder on your computer (if you have one.) If this all happened on your phone then you will have to preserve the information in another way. At this stage, you do Read More ...

SCARS Support Team2025-06-25T20:51:04-04:00Categories: New Victim Support Basics|Tags: After the Scam, Local Police, Reporting the Scam, Scam Victim, Scam Victims, Support & Recovery Program|

Every New Scam Victim Needs To Understand What To Do Next!

Every New Scam Victim Needs to Understand What to Do Next! Your Action Plan After Becoming a Scam Victim to Stop the Damage! Understand this: everyone can be scammed, and everyone will be scammed Key Topics: Stop the Bleeding Protecting Your Accounts Mitigate the Scam Damage Protect Yourself for the Future Don’t Get Blindsided as a Scam Victim Your Action Plan After Becoming a Scam Victim to Stop the Damage! First, understand this: everyone can be scammed, and everyone will be scammed – you will become a scam victim at some point! How well you plan and prepare for it will determine how bad it becomes. There are more than 49 million scam victims in the United States alone (as of 2023), and an estimated 100 million worldwide. None of them planned on becoming a victim either, but it happened. Within the next couple of years, every American adult will be the victim of a scam at least once, and sometimes many times. Becoming A Scam Victim Becoming a scam victim can be an emotionally and financially devastating experience. Discovering you’ve fallen victim to a scam is a disheartening and stressful experience, but swift action can help mitigate its impact and prevent further damage. Understanding what steps to take immediately after discovering a scam is crucial in minimizing losses and protecting yourself from future threats. Scam Victim – Where to Begin? The shock, anger, and fear can feel overwhelming, but amidst the chaos, it’s crucial to take swift action to minimize the damage and prevent further harm. Here’s your comprehensive guide to navigating the aftermath of a scam. Stop the Bleeding: Change Your Passwords Immediately: Update your login credentials for every account potentially compromised, including email, bank accounts, social media, and online shopping platforms. Use strong, unique passwords for each account, and enable two/multi-factor authentication. Stop All Transactions: Immediately cease any further transactions, communication, or engagement with the scammer. Freeze or close any compromised accounts. Cut Off All Contact: Immediately cease all communication with the scammer, regardless of their pleas or threats. Block their numbers, emails, and Read More ...

SCARS Support Team2025-06-25T20:48:27-04:00Categories: New Victim Support Basics|Tags: After the Scam, Scam Victim, Scam Victims, Support & Recovery Program, Support Groups|

SCARS Institute™ Scam Victim’s Support
Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams Inc. [SCARS]

Find SCARS™ All Across The Web & Social Media

How to Evaluate Your Own Mental Health After a Scam

How to Recognize You are in the Multiple Scam Trap and How to Climb Out

Forgiving Yourself After Surviving a Romance or Investment Scam

For Police Officers: Interacting With Scam Victims And How To Make A Difference

Scam Victims Reporting Scams And Interacting With The Police

Every New Scam Victim Needs To Understand What To Do Next!

SCARS Institute™ Scam Victim’s Support Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams Inc. [SCARS]

Find SCARS™ All Across The Web & Social Media

SCARS Institute™ Scam Victim’s Support
Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams Inc. [SCARS]