Fraud Victim Advice
/ Assistance for Consumer Scams and Investment Frauds
Ethical views reflect beliefs about right and wrong and define
broad standards of behavior which help shape the rules we use to
live together in society. Fairness and freedom are two ethical
views that are violated by fraud in an environment of dishonesty,
greed and laziness,
Fraud deceives a person by unfairly misrepresenting truth. It
also restricts the freedom of its victims as it robs them of their
money.
Fraud Victim Demographics
Just as there is no typical profile for swindlers, neither is
there one for their victims. Virtually anyone can fall prey to
fraudulent crimes.
Movie actors and athletes, professional persons and successful
business executives, political leaders and internationally famous
economists have all fallen victim to investment fraud.
Certainly victims of high-yield investment frauds may possess
a level of greed which exceeds their caution as well as a willingness
to believe what they want to believe. However, not all fraud victims
are greedy, risk-taking, self-deceptive individuals looking to
make a quick dollar. Nor are all fraud victims naive, uneducated,
or elderly.
Victims of fraud come from a variety of racial, age, gender, religious,
socioeconomic, and educational backgrounds. And smart perpetrators
prey on those differences.
Some swindlers deliberately seek out families that may have limited
means or financial difficulties, figuring such persons may be particularly
receptive to a proposal that offers fast and large profits. A favorite
pitch is that small investors can become rich if they learn and
employ the investment strategies used by wealthy persons.
Young, well-educated people are the most likely to fall for swindles
overall but older people are more likely to report these economic
crimes. Senior citizens often fall prey to telemarketing frauds,
but people in their 30s and 40s complain most often that they have
been defrauded over the Internet, according to the National Consumers
League.
For example, fraudulent telemarketers often target the elderly
as potential victims, not because they are greedy, but because
they are more likely to:
 |
have money, property, savings,
and investments; |
|
be home to receive phone solicitations;
and |
|
remain on the phone longer to hear
fraudulent sales pitches (due to loneliness). |
Younger, educated adults may be targeted because of a:
|
lack of maturity and experience
that would help them recognize fraudulent pitches, |
|
desire and social pressure to increase
their standard of living quickly, and |
|
lack of information about financial
investments. |
Other victims are targeted because of certain personality or character
traits that may increase their risk for fraud victimization. These
include
|
compassion, |
|
respect for authority figures,
and |
|
unsuspicious natures. |
Financial Effect of Fraud
Of successful fraud attempts, respondents to a study conducted
by the National Institute of Justice indicated that of those respondents
who fell prey to a fraud scheme, 85 percent lost money or property;
20 percent suffered financial or personal credit problems; 14 percent
suffered health or emotional problems directly related to their
victimization; and 14 percent of fraud victims lost time from work.
Younger people who are ripped off by swindlers are fortunate to
the extent that they have the opportunity to pick themselves up
and restore some or all of their losses through new earnings. If
you are elderly, disabled, or on a fixed income and you lack opportunities
to recover your losses you may face additional trauma.
In some instances, an elderly or disabled victim's very independence
is jeopardized, particularly if family members react to the loss
by having the victim declared legally incompetent to handle his
or her own financial affairs.
Psychological Effects of Fraud
Fraud crime is a personal violation. Although there is no serious
physical injury many victims of con-men speak of the betrayal as
the psychological equivalent of rape. Some victims find it helpful
to seek the services of a counseling professional, clergy member,
or advocacy organization, but most suffer alone.
Your trust in your own judgment, and your trust in others, is
often shattered. You may have hesitated to tell family members,
friends, or colleagues about your victimization for fear of criticism.
Family members and business associates may even have been financially
exploited at your urging, resulting in increased feelings of guilt
and blame.
The dread becomes immeasurable, unrelated to specifics, just an
all encompassing blanket of depression.
Fraud often evokes the following feelings or emotional reactions
among its victims:
|
self-doubt, shock, disbelief |
|
societal condemnation and indifference
(the attitude that victims of fraud deserve what they get as
a result of their own greed and stupidity) |
|
isolation (when victims suffer
their losses in silence rather than risking alienation and
blame from family members, friends, and colleagues) |
|
anger, resentment,
and a sense of betrayal toward the offender for taking advantage
of you especially if they are someone you know |
|
frustration with
criminal justice professionals |
|
shame, embarrassment,
and guilt if you feel you contributed to your own or others'
victimization |
|
fear for your financial
security |
|
increased concern
about your personal safety and well-being or that of your
family. |
The tangible cost of fraud crime is easily translated into dollar
amounts. Less easily measured, and perhaps the most exacting cost
of all, is the severe emotional impact of fraud crime on many of
its victims. Such emotional harm can be caused by the victim's
loss of the following:
|
financial security |
|
family home |
|
business |
|
inheritance |
|
retirement savings or children's
educational funds |
|
professional or personal credibility |
Although victim service providers and mental health practitioners
have focused on the devastating effects of violent crime.
Some of the same physiological and long-term emotional effects
experienced by victims of violent crimes are also experienced by
fraud victims such as:
|
feeling of terror or helplessness |
|
rapid heart rate |
|
hyperventilation |
|
panic |
|
inability to eat or sleep |
|
loss of enjoyment of daily activities |
|
depression |
Short-term effects on victims include:
|
preoccupation with the crime (thinking
about it a great deal, talking about it constantly, replaying
the crime, wondering what they could have done differently,
etc.) |
|
inability to concentrate or perform
simple mental tasks |
|
concern that other people will
blame them for what has happened |
|
increased strain on personal relationships
(even to the extent of divorce or withdrawal of support) |
In the extreme, fraud crimes have led some victims to attempt
or succeed in committing suicide.
Why are fraud crimes under-reported?
Groups and government agencies that help crime victims say they
have been slow to respond in part because the victims themselves
are often too embarrassed to come forward. Many victims feel they
have only themselves to blame when, in reality it is the calculating,
skilled perpetrators are to blame for these criminal acts.
Although fraud victims are not alone, they often suffer their
losses alone and in silence. Shame, guilt, embarrassment, and disbelief
are among the reasons that only an estimated 15% of the nation's
fraud victims report their crimes to law enforcement.
Some victims experience such high degrees of shame, or fear about
the loss of personal and professional respect and credibility,
that they choose not to disclose their victimization to family
members, friends, or professional colleagues.
Some feel their losses are not large enough to report, do not
want to get involved, think law enforcement agencies will not take
the crime seriously, or think nothing will result from reporting
the crime. Sadly, they are often right.
You may also fear confronting the person who defrauded you; other
peoples' judgmental attitudes and actions; and public disclosure,
especially if you have not told anyone close to you about the crime.
Fraud
Victims Manual ( pdf )
ScamVictimsUnited -
Forum and info site by victims - mostly online auction scam victims.
Tax Relief May Help Recover Major Investment
Losses for Fraud Victims
165 Services -
assists qualified investors in fully deducting their entire investment
losses against ordinary income. 165 Services clients receive, on
average, $50,000 each in tax benefits.
MSS Advocacy Group,
educating and assisting injured investors through competency, compassion
and a compilation of investment fraud loss experts in an effort
to raise public awareness of securities scams while seeking to
achieve maximum tax recovery.
Investment Fraud Victim Theft Loss Deduction Forum
|
