How to Report Being Scammed, Conned, or Catfished to Law Enforcement
If you've been scammed, you may want to report your situation to law enforcement. Depending on the circumstances, romance scams are a crime in many states; often federal crimes are violated, as well, depending on whether there is bank fraud, identity fraud, or other evidence of a federal crime. In this blog post, we'll take a look at how to report being scammed, conned, or catfished, what information you need to provide, and what steps you should take to investigate your case.
Contact your local police department.
If you're reporting a crime to the police, it's important to know which department handles your area. You can find this out by asking Google or looking on the website of your local government. If you live in New York City and someone steals your phone, for example, contact NYPD's 24/7 hotline at 311 (non-emergency) or 911 (emergency).
If you're reporting an online scam or other cybercrime that took place somewhere else--for example, if someone stole money from another person via PayPal--then call that location's local law enforcement agency instead. For example: if someone stole money from a person in California using their bank account in Illinois but had been communicating with them over Skype while doing so (and therefore making themselves more vulnerable), then both California and Illinois agencies would need a report so they could get information about what happened and start investigating who did it!
Provide details about the person's profile, and the messages you exchanged.
Provide details about the person's profile, and the messages you exchanged.
Be sure to include as much information as possible in your report. This includes: their name, age, location and any other identifying details (such as photos or videos). If they used a fake name or picture for their profile then provide this as well. For a sample example of a report to law enforcement, please see this downloadable form: Crime Report.
Include screenshots of any conversations you had with them so that law enforcement can see exactly what happened between both parties.
Note that it may take time for law enforcement to investigate your report because they receive reports of romance scams constantly.
Even if you are not sure if a crime has been committed, it is important to report your situation to law enforcement. Law enforcement officers are sworn to uphold the laws of their jurisdictions and it is their responsibility to investigate the crime you report. Once law enforcement evaluates your information, they will understand the laws that have been violated. Then, law enforcement proceeds to investigate.
As an example, you might think that your case is too small for law enforcement to investigate. But, for the sake of this example, say you are reporting someone, John Doe, and law enforcement has received other complaints about this John Doe already. Your information just made the case against John Doe even stronger. Law enforcement does need victims to report their information.
You can also contact the FBI if you feel that your case involves a federal crime such as identity theft or any type of fraud.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has jurisdiction over many crimes, including identity theft and fraud. If you feel that your case involves a federal crime, then it's best to contact the FBI directly. The FBI will have to review your case and determine whether it is appropriate for them to investigate. Please review our page of resources here for information about reporting crimes to the FBI.
Report scams, cons, and catfishing that have taken place online as soon as possible so that law enforcement can begin investigating the situation.
If you're a victim of a scam, a con, or catfishing, it's important to report the crime as soon as you possibly can. Here's why:
If a person is using your personal information without your consent and pretending to be someone else online, this could be classified as identity theft. Identity theft can cause significant harm to its victims and should be taken seriously by law enforcement officials who will work with them on cases involving this type of crime. In fact, there are many different types of identity theft that range from stealing credit card numbers or social security numbers through hacking into computer systems (such as banks) or even just buying something online with another person's debit/credit card information without their knowledge or permission--so reporting any instance where someone has used your personal info without asking first can help prevent future instances from happening!
Also, I have my own personal story about when my mother was a victim of a grandparent scam. One morning, my mother got a call from a female teenager she believed was my daughter, her granddaughter. The person she believed was her granddaughter said she was in trouble and then put a male on the phone who said he was a police officer. The male convinced my mother to send $5,000 worth of MoneyPak cards to him and then give him the codes on the backs of each card.
I didn’t know this had happened until about 8 o’clock that night. I immediately contacted the company that owned MoneyPak. Customer service worked with me and we realized the bad guys could only collect $2,500 per day on that platform. It wasn’t midnight yet, so the customer service representative was able to retrieve the $2,500 that hadn’t yet been sent to the bad guys. We were so lucky and grateful that we were able to get some of my mother’s money back from the scammers.
There are other reasons to report crimes as soon as possible. Memories fade, CCTV coverage is re-recorded, documents are archived or destroyed, and there are statutes of limitations to consider.
Conclusion
If you have been the victim of a scam, a con, or catfishing, it's important to report the incident as soon as you can so that law enforcement can begin investigating.
It’s also incredibly important to report being catfished to the dating app. Reporting to the dating app puts responsibility on the app to ensure the scammer is removed from the site and can’t continue to con other innocent victims. Watch for a future blog post with comprehensive information about reporting catfishers to dating apps. In the meantime, check out our Resource Directory for information about reporting crimes and for other resources you may need.