What To Do if You Are a Victim of Fraud

If you are a victim of fraud, you should immediately protect your online accounts with strong passwords, collect evidence of the fraud, report it and freeze your credit. Fraud can occur in many ways, but cybercriminals who commit fraud intend to deceive you to steal money or other valuable information to potentially steal your identity. Think of fraud as an umbrella term for any deceptive act and identity theft as targeting your personal information to impersonate you and commit fraud in your name.

Continue reading to learn six steps you should take to recover your money and/or identity, and how you can protect yourself from fraud and identity theft in the future.

1. Stop paying the scammer immediately

Although this seems obvious, you should stop giving additional money to the scammer who committed fraud. Some fraudsters promise to return your money if you keep sending them more, typically through online scams where there is minimal interaction with a scammer. While many scammers commit fraud using indirect methods such as stealing your information to open accounts in your name, you must stop paying a scammer if you are paying them directly. Scammers may use common tactics to convince you to keep paying them, including urgent language, threatening situations and casual conversation. For example, if you have already been scammed before, scammers will impersonate lawyers or government officials and claim they can recover your stolen money if you pay them fees or taxes. These recovery fraud scams trick you into believing you will get all your money back when, by continuing to pay, you will actually lose more money.

2. Protect your online accounts

You should secure your online accounts by using strong, unique passwords for each account. If you know one of your online accounts was compromised and led to you becoming a fraud victim, protect your accounts immediately by updating your passwords. Make sure your accounts have strong passwords of at least 16 characters and a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols.

Another way to protect your online accounts is by enabling Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) when it’s available. MFA is a security measure that requires more than one form of verification to access an app or account. With MFA enabled, a scammer who knows your username and password still won’t be able to access your account because they will need additional authentication. Some common types of MFA include a PIN, an answer to a security question, a code from an authenticator app or biometric information.

If any of your online accounts support passkeys as a sign-in method, you should use a passkey above all else because it is more secure than a password and cannot be compromised. A passkey is a passwordless login method that lets you log in to several accounts and apps through biometrics, a PIN or a swipe pattern. Instead of risking a weak password or being unable to secure your account with MFA, a passkey eliminates the possibility of accidentally sharing it with a scammer. Password managers like Keeper^® support passkeys, so you can access them on any device and use them for your various accounts.

3. Gather evidence of the fraud

If you have just become a victim of fraud, you need to collect all evidence to support an eventual report and investigation. Without evidence, law enforcement and government authorities may be unable to assist you in recovering your lost funds or identity. Types of documents and information you should gather as evidence include:

4. Report the fraud to the authorities

The sooner you report fraud to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the faster they can share what happened with law enforcement to investigate the fraud. In your report, provide as much information as possible, and you will then receive a customized recovery plan with the next steps to take based on your situation. The FTC will use your report to work with law enforcement in investigating the fraudster and seeking justice for you.

If you know the fraudster’s identity, file a police report by either visiting your local police station or calling them. You can speak with your local police station’s fraud department to report fraud or identity theft, depending on the situation.

5. Freeze your credit

A credit freeze stops creditors from accessing your credit report and approving loans or credit lines. This prevents scammers from using your credit to open new lines of credit or get loans in your name, stopping you from becoming a victim of identity theft. To place a credit freeze, you must contact each of the three credit bureaus: Experian, TransUnion and Equifax. You can visit their website or call Experian at 1-888-397-3742, TransUnion at 1-888-916-8800 and Equifax at 1-888-298-0045 to place a credit freeze. When you want to unfreeze your credit, contact each of the three credit bureaus again, as it will stay frozen until you unfreeze it.

6. Dispute fraudulent charges

Report and dispute any charges made on your credit or debit cards immediately for the best chance of recovering your money. The sooner you dispute fraudulent charges, the more likely they are to be removed from your account. Use all the evidence you gathered and have copies of your reports to the FTC and/or police, as having as much information as possible will help resolve your dispute more quickly. Waiting even a few days to dispute any fraudulent charges can dramatically decrease your chances of recovering stolen money.

Can I get my money back if I am a victim of fraud?

Unfortunately, there is no guarantee you will get your money back if you’ve been a victim of fraud. Your bank, credit card issuer or other companies you have accounts with will need to investigate the fraud, which could result in financial loss. That’s why it’s important that you have as much evidence as possible to prove fraudulent activity, increasing your chances of recovering your funds. How quickly you report the fraud and how effective the authorities are in investigating your case will also affect whether you can get your money back.

How to protect yourself from fraud and identity theft

There are several ways you can protect yourself from becoming a victim of fraud and identity theft:

Stay protected against fraud in the future

You can stay protected against fraud and identity theft in the future by freezing your credit and protecting your online accounts. One of the best ways to secure your accounts is by using strong, unique passwords. You can update your passwords and store them in a secure location when you use Keeper Password Manager, which also features a built-in password generator that creates randomly generated passwords based on strong criteria.

Start your free 30-day trial of Keeper Password Manager today to ensure all your passwords are strong and protected from fraudsters.