Being a victim of fraud can be devastating enough, but that’s not always the end of the story. Often, fraud victims can be targeted again – only this time by people claiming that they can recover the victim’s initial losses.
Recovery scams are a type of advance-fee fraud in which fraudsters promise to help scam victims get their money back in return for an upfront fee. The victim loses even more money by paying the fraudster for a so-called “fraud recovery service” that never materializes. In some variants of this scam, fraudsters claim to be able to recover cryptocurrency, often targeting people who have fallen victim to investment scams. Unfortunately, however, these “crypto recovery services” are not genuine.
In December of 2023, the FTC issued a warning about the growing trend in recovery scams and how they exploit the most vulnerable populations, those who’ve already fallen victim to scams. So, how are they targeted?
Finding new “customers” – building credibility
Every successful scam starts by luring potential victims and then building credibility. For recovery scams, criminals advertise in several ways, including social media, copied websites from other scammers, and review sites intended to establish trust for consumers.
Many recovery scammers contact known victims of fraud, either through social media (for example, if the victim has posted publicly about being scammed) or by obtaining their details from a so-called sucker list – a list of people who have previously fallen for a scam that contains details such as their name, email address, or phone number, which is sold to fraudsters on the dark web. In some cases, the recovery scammer may even be the same person from the first scam.
Looks can be deceiving – @cybstrive deep dive
Recovery scams can often be found in the comment sections of …