50

Lost $10K to scammers. I’ve been able to locate them. I know their home phone, their bank details, who they are renting from, their street address. I want to go there and take action.

Does this information help me in any way? Can I use this information in any way to get my money back? Any ideas?

GS - Apologise to Monica
  • 29,974
  • 8
  • 93
  • 119
Bob Jane
  • 467
  • 1
  • 4
  • 4
  • 2
    Offer the scammers a $1,000 reward for giving you your money back ;->) – Bob Baerker Oct 05 '20 at 21:45
  • 3
    If only. It’s actually my daughters entire savings she’s disabled and they target gullible folks like her... – Bob Jane Oct 05 '20 at 21:49
  • 2
    Plus they threatened her if she told anyone so it took me a while to get it out of her. – Bob Jane Oct 05 '20 at 21:50
  • 90
    Did you notify the police? – Hart CO Oct 05 '20 at 22:22
  • 8
    If they're a scammer, might they be lying about their address? – Acccumulation Oct 06 '20 at 05:44
  • 46
    If you live to tell, let us know how it went. – Peter - Reinstate Monica Oct 06 '20 at 08:08
  • 20
    For people commenting, do bear in mind locale is not specified. Not everyone has the luxury to live in a country where it's as simple as "turn data to police". Where I live, even if he had a video confession of the scammer and him detailing how why and who he's gonna scam, you would probably at best get a notice from police after a month that they couldn't find the perp, so case closed. Unless you're wealthy or a politician of course. – Yuropoor Oct 06 '20 at 10:46
  • 1
    What if they gave you a decoy??? You didn't even state their home country so we don't know if it's mexicans with big guns or british armed with q-tips or americans or australians or what... The question is incomplete. Whatever it is GATHER AS MUCH PROOF of their activities as you can. Your main recourse is proof, records, taped conversations, and they probably try to keep their activities extra hidden and encoded, so good luck with that. You also didn't say how you got your scammers address, what was the scam? Your question sounds like you've watched too many movies, sorry. – bandybabboon Oct 06 '20 at 11:38
  • 29
    Respectfully, how is this on-topic? A question about a financial scam is one thing, but this is after the fact and is more on-topic for [interpersonal.se] or [law.se] – CGCampbell Oct 06 '20 at 12:40
  • 5
    You have a disabled daughter and you're willing to do something that will put you in jail and unable to care for her, all for... revenge, bloodlust and anger? You most likely won't get your money back, maybe some satisfaction and certainly criminal charges. – Aubreal Oct 06 '20 at 13:54
  • 46
    This really needs to come off the HNQ – CGCampbell Oct 06 '20 at 17:25
  • 2
    Cynically, the identified "scammers" are either victims in which case OP could scam them or genuine scammers in which case OP could extort them. Neither is allowed by law. – emory Oct 06 '20 at 22:30
  • 2
    FYI I have considered removing this from HNQ and am unsure about whether it is on-topic or not. However given that several other users with the reputation to vote to close have been active on this question and haven't done so, I have left it alone for now. – GS - Apologise to Monica Oct 07 '20 at 14:53
  • 5
    I don't meant to be rude, but have you considered if you were wrong enough before to be scammed out of such a large quantity of money by people you don't know, you might now be wrong in thinking that you know who the people are? – Tom Oct 07 '20 at 18:35
  • 2
    Basically, unless your last name is Wick and your first name is John, leave it to the authorities. – Deepak Oct 08 '20 at 02:00
  • @Yuropoor Based on the fact that it is $ and the OP's use of American English ("folks") it's a reasonable guess (albeit not certain) that he is in the USA. – JBentley Oct 08 '20 at 08:44
  • I want to see how this ends up :) – Rainb Oct 08 '20 at 09:10
  • @JBentley when I'm wirting about money on this site, I too use USD (or EUR) since my local currency probably tells nothing to anyone outside my country. Also, folks is also a common term taught to us when we learn english (and who hasn't heard of the "t-t-t that's all folks" from looney toons). So I can assume he is form my country as well as you can assume he is from USA. So, all in all, no certainty at all unless he would say it. – Yuropoor Oct 08 '20 at 11:37
  • @Yuropoor "No certainty" ... that's what I said: "reasonable guess (albeit not certain)". I've personally never heard a non-American use "folks", but as I acknowledged, there can be exceptions. – JBentley Oct 08 '20 at 12:25
  • I agree with others this is completely off-topic on the site and not fit for HNQ. – TylerH Oct 08 '20 at 14:19
  • It's a reasonably good question precisely because it's a situation that's increasingly common and deserves thought & discussion. However, it's difficult to give a good answer without more information about the situation. A couple of teenage scammers is one thing, and an organized crime syndicate is another. There are actual resources for dealing with this sort of thing, and the police and your bank aren't necessarily the best place to start. – Craig.Feied Oct 08 '20 at 17:20

5 Answers5

279

There is a real chance that you haven't found the scammer. You may have just found another victim. The risk to you is that you decide to try and scam the scammer, or you try to physically strike the scammer, and then you find out you were wrong. The police will then become very interested in you.

If you haven't contacted the police and/or your bank do so now. They are the only ones who can do something about this.

mhoran_psprep
  • 139,546
  • 15
  • 193
  • 389
  • 105
    This answer is the only reason I'm not voting to close the question. I think it's important that anyone else who thinks they've outsmarted the scammers take a strong look at the idea that they probably haven't. – BobbyScon Oct 06 '20 at 00:11
  • 95
    Even if OP has actually found the scammer, taking matters into their own hands would still carry the risk of arrest, prosecution, and conviction. – jcm Oct 06 '20 at 03:04
  • 6
    The question should be closed/rewritten due to lack of precision, no proof, is it a decoy, no location, no scam details, sounds like someone's watched too many movies. – bandybabboon Oct 06 '20 at 11:40
  • 26
    I mean, the police will become very interested in a physical assault whether or not the person being attacked is a scammer. Inadvisable either way. – Nuclear Hoagie Oct 06 '20 at 12:37
  • 3
    The scene in "The Big Lebowski" where Walter smashes up a new Corvette with a tire iron only to find out it's not owned by the target of his rage comes to mind. – JimmyJames Oct 07 '20 at 14:14
  • 3
    @JimmyJames And the entire film starts off with a gang showing up in the Dude's apartment because they mistook him for another man with the same name... – Moyli Oct 07 '20 at 21:20
  • IMO this is a good question and deserves real answers. This highly upvoted response is not an answer -- it's a comment posing as an answer. There is no evidence given for the statement "They (police) are the only ones who can do something about this," and the statement is demonstrably false. The OP could file a civil suit, for example. A private detective could be hired to gather evidence. In the USA, the FBI could be called. It's very annoying that people want to lecture the OP rather than answering the question. – Craig.Feied Oct 08 '20 at 17:12
44

As others have mentioned:

  1. You could attack an innocent person.
  2. You will face legal ramifications if you do attack whoever it might be — their wrongdoing doesn't exempt you from facing consequences.
  3. Let the criminal justice system deal with the scammers.

AND equally as important: you yourself might come to bodily harm — if they are scammers I'm sure they are prepared to defend themselves, they might have a gun/baseball bat and you might end up dead or disabled.

Go to the police, it is the only reasonable and safe action you can take here that will not result in further harm to you and your family.

Flux
  • 17,043
  • 8
  • 68
  • 124
Charlene Vo
  • 471
  • 3
  • 3
  • 21
    Consider that a nasty scammer might have friends that are even nastier. Beating someone up, even if it is the scammer, might have bad consequences for you personally. – gnasher729 Oct 06 '20 at 13:39
  • 1
    This answer really doesn't add anything, as well as these answers kind of only empower scammers. – marshal craft Oct 07 '20 at 00:30
  • 5
    The last thing you want is to find out the hard way that these scammers are connected to some sort of organized crime outfit (mafia, gang, cartel, etc). An organization like that would have no problem tracking you down and it would not be pretty. Better to leave this one to the professionals. – bta Oct 07 '20 at 01:12
  • @bta There is no locale added, but the professionals aren't necessarily any better at it. – Mast Oct 07 '20 at 17:25
  • 2
    @marshalcraft Attacking the scammer will, at best, get you into more trouble and at worst, get you killed. Nobody is trying to empower the scammers; they're trying to keep OP from getting into more trouble. – Nelson Oct 08 '20 at 08:49
  • "Let the criminal justice system deal with..." is a statement of blatant disregard for the incompetence, and one-sideness, of the criminal justice system. It's fair enough to make the assertions you've made before this but most vulnerable/poor/marginalised people who have had to deal with the justice system know what a wasted effort it is. – Max Oct 08 '20 at 09:42
  • I can't see how you infer "to attack the scammer" by what I said unless you view any positive resolution to scams as an unwarranted action and attack on scammers. This not only puts you on the opposite side of moral and ethical grounds, but makes this question pointless. Why would one expect to receive credible advice or anything which is not designed to fuel further loss of property to would be scammers, not implying you however. Being as you sympathize with scammers you could quite conceivably assist them as well. – marshal craft Oct 10 '20 at 10:15
  • Additionally I could place my vote to mark these answers as any number of things which make their right to be here invalid. The asker has been scammed, a form of robbery, and would ultimately like a positive resolution. This much is simple. These answers discuss many different things, but all have one thing in common. 1) do not take any actions against the scammers interests 2) be fearful of negative consequences for disrupting the scammers actions and economic interests. – marshal craft Oct 10 '20 at 10:27
19

Yeah, you do have a self-help option...

SUE THEM! It elegantly solves all the problems

Because of the fraud, they're into you for at least triple damages, and possibly a lot more if their behavior would enrage a jury.

Suing someone is a "self-help" legal solution that allows you to forbid, compel, or take money damages. You can't send them to jail, but if their conduct is illegal and disturbing, the judge can refer the case to the District Attorney's office for criminal prosecution.

In this case you engage an attorney.

  • This can be out-of-pocket in which case you pay the lawyer regardless, but keep all money collected.
  • Or it can be on contingency, which costs you nothing out of pocket and you get 2/3 - (the lawyer collects 1/3 for services rendered) -- but a lawyer will only agree to that if a) your case is winnable and b) the defendant is collectible.
  • Lastly, you can self-represent if you really, really want to... but unless you're careful, detail-oriented and willing to do a lot of research, you'll probably find yourself swamped with technicalities.

Now, what about those downsides?

"They are criminals and they beat you up or murder you":

They won't get to meet you. Their first encounter will be with your lawyer's process server throwing a piece of paper at them. If they threaten or intimidate the process server, those will a) be completely new crimes, which the process server (as an independent third party) will gleefully report; and b) this will wildly prejudice the lawsuit in your favor.

Other than that, they interact with your lawyer and the court.

If they're an organized crime ring, they'll have their own lawyers, who will use the legal system to resist you. Not their first rodeo; they know better than to physically threaten lawyers, process servers, or litigants.

"They are innocent victims, tricked by the real scammer to be a money mule":

They'll have every opportunity to raise that objection and explain their side of the story. They don't even need to hire a lawyer; they can either write it in a proper Answer, or they can explain in interrogatories (written Q&A you send them), or they can tell you the story in front of a camera when you take their deposition.

Harper - Reinstate Monica
  • 58,229
  • 10
  • 91
  • 195
  • 2
    Suing solves the problems if you win. California Business Journal suggest a simple lawsuit may cost around $10,000. So OP may need to have that additional amount of money they can afford to lose in their attempt to recover the lost $10,000. They should get costs back if they win. If they don't win, I imagine they could easily be $20K down instead of $10k down. – RedGrittyBrick Oct 07 '20 at 15:17
  • 1
    @RedGrittyBrick I discuss 3 funding methods (edited for clarity) and your concern only applies to one of them; what you're missing is quite early, you discover if you a) have a winnable case and b) have a collectible client. If both of those are not true, you drop the case with little money spent. If both are true, you're likely to get an early and profitable settlement - the scammer will want to do anything to avoid getting in front of a judge. $10k only applies if you have to drag them to verdict. – Harper - Reinstate Monica Oct 07 '20 at 16:54
  • @Harper-ReinstateMonica I don’t know what “This” case you’re talking about. And small claims does not force anybody to self represent. Furthermore I have sued in New Jersey Superior Court, represented myself, there were no technicalities, and it wasn’t one iota harder than small claims, and I am no renaissance man. – Randy Zeitman Oct 10 '20 at 10:45
17

Assuming that these guys are scammers, you have no idea how professional these people are. They could be part of a gang, they could be part of a mafia group, they could be terrorists, you don't know exactly who these scammers are. The best thing to do is to clear your head and tell the authorities what you have found.

In the first place, you should have actually contacted the authorities yourself, get a hold of your banks if you could, and see what you could have done there. While I don't know your current status and what you had to do to get to this point, I know that if you didn't do this as a last resort, then you should really reconsider your plan of action.

BlueJ
  • 191
  • 4
  • 5
    This. The scammers are, by definition, criminals, and one has no way of knowing whether or not they are the violent sort. – Wayne Conrad Oct 06 '20 at 21:31
16

Never, ever, take the law into your own hands: the state doesn't like competition, and assuming that you're a law-abiding citizen who hasn't obscured his identity you're an easy target.

As others have said, report it to the police... I assume your (or your daughter's) bank is already aware. If you don't get satisfaction that way, then use the services of whatever ombudsmen are appropriate to police regulation, or in extremis look for help from your local elected representative.

Mark Morgan Lloyd
  • 263
  • 1
  • 4