From phishing to faked investment platforms – the methods employed by fraudsters trying to get their hands on your money are varied and ingenious. But what could happen if you already fell victim to fraud? One increasingly common scam targeting people already having suffered a loss is the so-called recovery scam.
With a recovery scam, crooks have set their sights on people who have already become fraud victims. These criminals promise them to get their lost money or assets back against payment of a fee. Such fees are generally payable in advance. Purported helpers of this kind often claim to be affiliated with the authorities, law firms or special investigative services – the irony being that these criminals are sometimes the same people or groups which scammed the same person beforehand. Or they have obtained information about a victim via illegal data trading.
You can recognise recovery scams by some of these features:
- Scammers appear unexpectedly, contacting you via e-mail, telephone or social media out of the blue, claiming they can improve your situation.
- You are asked to make some fee or other payments in advance before they claim they will help you.
- You are pressured to act quickly, often based on the argument that you are running out of time to recover your money.
- There is a lack of clear information on the way the recovery process works or on the organisations participating in this process.
