Scamming is a part of modern life, so why do victims have such a hard time talking about it? Maybe they're embarrassed, maybe they're afraid, or maybe they don't know how or where to report being scammed. No matter the reason, experts say that unreported scams shroud the perpetrators in mystery, leading to the wider public treating very real, very serious scamming incidents like urban legends. When people think scammers are mythical menaces, they are more likely to get caught up in fraudulent schemes.
We're not trying to alarm you, but we're here to explain that scammers are very much real and alert you to the most common scams to watch out for. And, should you fall victim to one, we break down exactly what you should do.
Anyone Could Be a Scammer
Portrayals by online creators make scamming seem like the work of silly, small-time crooks. In reality, real-life villains are running global online scamming operations with a level of sophistication that could impress the likes of Ponzi.
"They’ve got it covered from all angles," said Lisa Plaggemier, executive director at National Cybersecurity Alliance. We recently chatted by video call about the surge in believable AI-fuelled tax scams. Plaggemier said that scamming operations ensnare victims with data collected via the same tracking methods used by legitimate businesses.
"They have a call center, and they have emails going out. They’re doing SEO… There will be a malicious website. They have the whole backstory locked down in a more sophisticated way than I've seen in the past," said Plaggemier.
The Most Popular Scams Right Now
Scamming is an industry, and like every other business, it follows trends. The r/Scams community on Reddit gives a pretty good picture of this niche within the criminal zeitgeist. Recent highlights include exposing scammers who use AI-generated photos and videos, romance scams involving possible blackmail, and payment app scams.
Most recently, I’ve seen a rash of posts about pig butchering scams. For the uninitiated, the scheme's name is a nod to fattening up a pig before it's slaughtered.
First, the scammer will reach out to a victim, often by SMS, under the pretense of knowing the victim via a mutual friend or having entered the wrong number accidentally. The scammer will often be charming and may drop small bits of personal information about the victim's real-life friends or family to gain trust.
After the scammer gains a new friend, they offer their victim a chance to invest in a financial opportunity, usually involving cryptocurrency. These schemes often promise high returns over a short period.
Pig butchering scammers use fake apps, investment portfolio documents, social media profiles, and banking websites to legitimize the opportunity in the victim's eyes and collect bank account details, identification numbers, and other highly personal information. After the victim invests the money (usually through a payment app or cryptocurrency), the scammer disappears, cash and data in hand, leaving only financial devastation in their wake.
In the past, PCMag warned readers about phishing links in emails, disaster-relief scams, romance scammers, and a litany of other online scams. Plaggemier mentioned that the current scamming trends indicate the elaborate business operations mentioned above. This means that spotting a scammer-in-progress isn’t so easy anymore. It also means that anyone can be a victim.
What to Do If You Get Scammed
Plaggemier said that the reason scammers keep getting away with their crimes is less about victims being duped, an understandable circumstance given the level of effort put into current scams. Instead, scammers keep winning because victims are afraid to speak up.
"There's a huge shame factor in reporting," Plaggemier said. People don’t report scams because they worry about being seen as foolish for “falling for” a crime or because the scammer lured them in using embarrassing personal information.
Since these crimes aren’t often reported, it’s possible that law enforcement and government agencies still believe scams are the work of scattered individuals rather than coordinated efforts by criminal organizations. Plaggemier told me that the people who can take down scamming enterprises just don’t have enough public data.
"Law enforcement isn't getting an accurate picture of what the landscape looks like. Is it some small criminal, or is it a big gang that's stealing hundreds of millions?"
How to Report a Scam
Before taking your case to the authorities, you may want to open up to family and friends about your experience as a scamming victim. Given the sophistication of scamming methods, the odds are good that someone you know has been a victim.
As mentioned earlier, shame is often why people fail to report these crimes. Eliminate shame from the equation, and tell the people you love about what happened to you so they can offer support while you put your life back together.
Plaggemier mentioned that attempts to report scams may sometimes miss the mark. "If you call your local police, they often don't know what to tell you," she said, noting that some states use the 311 calling system for scam reports. The FBI website lists common scams and various reporting methods, such as in person at a field office or online.
To report any kind of online scam, visit the Internet Crime Complaint Center and the Identity Theft Resource Center to report the crimes and get advice on recovering from identity theft. I also recommend checking out the FTC’s online identity theft recovery center, identitytheft.gov, to add your scam report and follow their guides to undo some of the damage.