Have you been talking to someone on
the internet and cannot think of anything beyond them? Has that person taken
control of your life already? Have they asked you for money? Have you given it
to them already? There is a high chance that you are being scammed! The person
on the other end could be a total fraud who is only out to get your money.
Now what to do? Do you want to
report dating scams? And do you know how to proceed with it?
Here is how:
1)
End all contact with the scammer
As hard it sounds, you need to end
it before you report dating scams. The scammer should have absolutely no idea
about your plans. If you are thinking of reporting and also of continuing
chatting with this scammer at the same time, then you may not get to report it
at all. Once they realize your intention (which they will), they will try their
best to make you believe otherwise. There is a reason why so many people fall
for their lies and end up losing their money.
2)
Gather everything together
Before you report dating scams, you need to have evidence of everything. This includes the following:
●
Text messages
●
Chat records
●
Phone records
●
Phone bills
●
Payment receipts
●
Emails
Once you have all of these, print
out their hard copies and keep them in a folder. Back up the soft copies of the
same on a pen drive or something similar.
3)
Now, proceed with learning about how to report dating
scams
Check out FBI’s official press
release about dating scams and scammers
It is a useful tool for learning
about how to recognize a potential scammer and also how to avoid them.
Then go to the following links and
report dating scams
You could also consider submitting
all the information about the scammer onto an online database.
Please click on the following link
for doing so:
4) The next thing would be contact your local police
station. They can help you with the documentation needed for nailing the
scammer. You could also publish your story on the internet. Look for websites
which accept articles from guest users. About.com is one of them.
5) The final thing after you report dating scams would be
to guard yourself against identity theft. Even after the scammer is out of your
life, he or she could try and steal your identity. This is why you need to be
prepared.
●
Limit all of your social accounts to a close
network of people. Almost all social networking websites offer advanced privacy
options to their users
●
If you are on Facebook, do not keep your picture
as the “cover picture” on your profile. Anybody can see it and steal the same.
●
Change passwords of all your social networking
accounts
●
Change passwords of all your dating website
accounts
