Iowans who’ve fallen victim to a scam in the past need to keep their guard up and be very watchful for a repeat.
Lisa Schiller, with Better Business Bureau, says scammers will share lists of their victims in order to see if someone who’s been duped before will take the bait a second time.
“So maybe if you fell for a computer tech scam at one point, perhaps you’ll turn around and fall for a timeshare sales scam the next time,” Schiller says, “or a sweepstakes or a lottery scam, something of that nature.”
It’s very difficult to get back any money that’s been lost in a scam as the crooks are often overseas. Schiller says one common tactic scammers will employ on the rebound is to pretend to be a service that can recover stolen money.
“They’re just a voice over the phone or an email, you don’t know who you’re speaking with directly,” Schiller says. “That might be their ruse is to offer to assist you and then turn around and scam you again.”
Schiller says scammers know some people are too proud to report fraud, or think they can fix things on their own.
She says if you’ve been hoodwinked, don’t feel ashamed — call for help with a trusted service like the BBB or the Consumer Protection Division of the Iowa Attorney General’s Office. That way there’s a record of the incident and you can get a hand protecting yourself.
