Where you can report online scams
How to report online scammers is a question asked by many due to the increase in online scams. Online scams come in many forms, such as online dating scams, senior scams, hacking, online fraud and scams, identity theft and computer systems hacking. Online scammers have different goals. The most common scammers are out for your money.
The annual cost of cybercrime globally is $USD600 billion. In the next five years, the estimated cost of cybercrime will rise to $USD5.2 trillion.
How to report an online scammer in the US
In the US, there are multiple resources to report Internet-related crimes. The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) is a partnership between the US Federal Bureau of Investigations and the National White Collar Crime Center. The IC3 handles more serious crimes. Think of online extortion, theft of identity, hacking, online espionage etc.
If you have fallen victim to an online scam that doesn’t fit any of the above categories, you can submit an online scammer report to the USA.gov’s Internet Fraud Information page. This site will link you to the appropriate agency that can help you with your specific type of crime.
eBay scams are very popular as well. If you are the victim of an auction related fraud, you can report online scams to the eBay Security Center.
Facebook is also very aware of scammers using their social network. The Facebook’s Security site handles reports on hacking, fraud, spam and scams.
Report online scammer in Australia
In Australia, the cost of cybercrime is $AUD4.5 billion. ACORN received 65,286 cybercrime reports between 2014 – 2016. This number is expected to rise significantly. Due to this expected increase there are multiple resources on how to report online scammer.
For online criminal crimes such as online pedophilia or human trafficking, you can report online scammer to the Australian Crime Stoppers.
For cybercrime scams such as Gumtree scams, eBay scams and other internet scams, you can submit an online scammer report to the Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network (ACORN).
ACORN provides information on recognizing online scams. The organization also advises internet scam victims.
If you want to identify your scammer and retrieve your money, you can report online scammers to the Private Australiasian Cybercrime Disruption Organisation (PACDO).
PACDO is managed by licensed private investigators who specialize in digital forensics and digital cybercrime. Besides helping victims identify the perpetrator and attempt to retrieve the money, PACDO also encourages people to play along with the scammers. PACDO’s mission is to disrupt cybercrime networks to reduce the number of cybercrime victims. You can find an example of how they disrupted a criminal network through a Gumtree scam.
Identify your online scammer
Unfortunately, many victims don’t find any relief with public services. If this is you, we can help you identify your scammer. For some scams, such as Bitcoin scams, this won’t always give any relief as the money is often gone and untraceable. But if you are dealing with hacking, online harassment, identity theft, corporate espionage and more, identifying your antagonist gives you options.
