Being tricked is hard on our wallets but also our mental status. It takes quite a bit out of us emotionally that shouldn’t be ignored. According to the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) one in four Americans reported losing money to scams in 2023. You are not alone in this, and it is becoming a part of the new reality.
Here are a few tips to help you cope with the aftermath of being the target of fraud.
What To Expect
Being a affected by a scam is tough on our bodies and our emotions. You will go through a range of emotions from anger, depression, guilt, and shame. These are natural and you need to learn how to deal with them to recover. You have a full right to experience each of these emotions, but it is important to deal with them the right way.
Seek Professional Assistance
Seek out help from a professional if you need it and are not coping well. I had this further down my list, but it needs to be right up here near the top. If you are having trouble coping seek help immediately. You can find a list of resources here.
Don’t Blame Yourself
Blaming ourselves is the first reaction. “How can I be so naive?!” “What was I thinking?!” “How could I have allowed this to happen?!”. These are all typical responses, although they might have a few more colourful words added in there. But, this isn’t your fault. Scammers know exactly how to get to you and your money. Remember, they are using psychology against you to take advantage of our naturally trusting selves. We want to help somebody in danger, we want to have more money, we all want to trust somebody is telling us the truth to begin with.
Scammers are always coming up with new ways to take advantage of people, and they are really, really good at it.
This isn’t your fault. You are the victim here, you were tricked. This is the scammer’s fault.
Don’t Keep It To Yourself
It is very understandable why you would want to keep the fact that you had been taken advantage of out of the embarrassment that comes with it. You don’t want anybody to find out about what happened to you and how you could have let it happen. Going back to the first point, you have to remember, you didn’t do this, they did. You need to report it at least, tell the police what happened and also report it to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC)(more information here). This is the most important and neither of these will make you feel bad, or shameful. They need to know about these incidents. There is a chance however that they cannot help you get your money back, but reporting these scams is important. They use this information to report to the community (you remain anonymous of course) which then in turn helps education the community on what happened. It also helps the police know exactly what scams are taking place. Additionally, it aids the cybersecurity community in better identifying and helping to protect others from the same scam.
You can also tell your friends and family, to protect them. The more the word of mouth gets around the more aware everybody is. Talking about it is also a form of self healing. Getting it out so it isn’t bottled up inside of you manifesting into something more than what it is.
Heal Thyself
It is important that you put your own personal health and well-being first when recovering from this. Take some time for you to heal. Stress is a wrecking ball on our bodies and overall health. Take walks, get fresh air, stay hydrated, eat healthy meals and rest. You have to put yourself first.
Setup Protections To Help Your Future Self
Protect yourself from further scams by setting up some protections for yourself. Setup credit monitoring to get notified of important changes and alerts of fraudulent activity on your credit accounts. Equifax offers this as a service that you can sign up for for a low monthly cost.
Other options might be installing and using a VPN for online activity, using antimalware / antivirus software on your devices, ensuring that your devices are up to date and software is updated as well.
Never share any personal information, this includes Social Insurance Numbers, Old Age Security information, financial details, etc over the phone, email or with anybody.
And of course, remember the 4 P’s.
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