Scammed Online? The Truth About Getting Your Money Back (And What Actually Works)

Episode Description 

Discover the reality behind online scam recovery and learn what actually works when you've been defrauded. This episode explores third-party liability in fraud cases, why banks should do more to protect victims, and actionable steps you can take to recover your stolen money. 

Key Topics Covered: 

• Third-Party Liability in Fraud Cases - How larger institutions are finally recognizing their role in preventing and addressing online scams
• "Pig Butchering" Scams Explained - Understanding these sophisticated investment frauds that lure victims into sending cryptocurrency and digital investments over weeks or months
• The Escalation Pattern - How scammers use progressive incentives to extract tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars from victims
• Bank Responsibility and Detection Failures - Why financial institutions that flag unusual Walmart purchases often miss massive fraudulent transfers
• Recovery Challenges - The difficulty of identifying perpetrators and the extensive investigation required for money recovery
• Reporting Options - How to file complaints with IC3 and when private investigations become necessary
• Documentation Strategy - Essential steps for gathering evidence of fraud and identifying all parties involved
• Third-Party Accountability - Examining liability of transfer banks, Zelle, PayPal, and other financial service providers
• Wire Transfer Red Flags - Why banks should intervene when customers make unusual large transfers but often don't
• Investigation Best Practices - How to build a comprehensive case that includes all involved institutions and transfer methods

Action Steps for Fraud Victims:

• Report incidents to appropriate authorities
• Document all transactions and communications
• Investigate potential third-party liability
• Obtain comprehensive fraud victim resources
• Consider professional assistance for complex cases

For more information on determining third-party liability and accessing free fraud victim resources, visit the links provided in the episode.

What is The Expert Podcast?

The Expert Podcast brings you firsthand narratives from experts across diverse industries, including private investigators, general contractors and builders, insurance agencies, vehicle specialists, lawyers, and many others.

You've heard us talk before about how third parties may have liability in these fraud cases. And finally, some larger institutions are starting to see this. Here's an article on the front page of the Wall Street Journal from this week talking about how millions of dollars are stolen and how banks should do more to fight these scams.

And one of the scams is called pig butchering. So these online frauds entice investors to give money, usually cryptocurrency or some digital investment. And what they'll do is they'll keep adding more and more incentives to send more money. So over days or weeks or even months, sometimes the victim will send tens of thousands of dollars, hundreds of thousands of dollars to the scam and eventually find out it was um completely fraud.

And usually at that point it's very difficult to identify the the person without doing a deep background investigation and you have to go through a lot to get your money back. You can report it to IC3 and do a private investigation. But what we've always advocated is that the banks who are involved with these transactions should recognize them and help out victims. as an example.

Your video will be back in eight seconds. In the meantime, remember you have access to live one-on-one consultation, undivided attention of a licensed, certified expert in this subject and many others. We want to listen to your story. We want to hear your questions and give you expert advisement of your options. We want to tell you what we know about your situation and what options you have.

Now, back to your video. If you go to Walmart to buy a computer and you normally don't spend that much money on your credit card, your bank will probably send you a text message on your cell phone that says, "Hey, was that you at Walmart buying this $300 computer?" And you have to say yes on your text message. Well, at the same time, you probably have been sending tens of thousands of dollars to this investment, but the bank never stepped in. and they never ask you about if this is correct.

Maybe you're doing wire transfers. So many times a third party may have liability. So that's why it's important to do a very good investigation. Get good documentation of your fraud. Get good documentation of all the parties involved. Was there a transfer bank involved? Was there zel? Was there PayPal? Was there some other um avenue for the money being transferred? And you can look to see if that particular entity or institution may have liability.

If you want more information about how to determine thirdparty liability, you can click the link below. Uh we'd be glad to be of assistance. And if you are a victim of fraud, make sure you obtain our free fraud victim resources at activeintel.com. If you like this video, be sure to click on a few others on our channel to see if there's other information that might be helpful to you about this same subject or me maybe even other related subjects that could assist you with your resolution of your issue.