Smart About Money: Aftermath of Being Scammed

According to a new FBI report, there was a “devastating spike” in scams last year, with the impact of the scams often being catastrophic for the victims.

Nick Maffeo

Many think it’s “just” older people who get scammed. That’s not true. Victims are of all ages, and some believe that younger people are particularly likely to become scam victims because they are not warned against scams as much.

For most scam victims, the terrifying, confusing, adrenaline-spiking story they’re told by the scammer and the loss of the money is bad enough.

Unfortunately, there are two things that frequently come next that many victims say are even worse than the original scam. The first is the loss of trust in oneself.

Last year, Charlotte Cowles, a then-39-year-old wife, mother and financial advice columnist in New York City, lost $50,000 in an Amazon scam. She wrote about the experience in Cut magazine. It was a weird and frightening situation when it was happening, with the scammers going so far as to threaten her with going to jail and even saying her young son was in danger.

In the days and weeks after the scam, she wrote how it all kept coming “crashing back” on her. She said she felt “humiliated and unreliable,” like she couldn’t trust herself. She couldn’t stop imagining that other people were judging her — thinking she was “careless, or even unhinged.” Cowles felt paranoid that someone was watching her when she took her son to school. She kept checking her bank account “obsessively.” She said she cried a lot.

In her post-victim research, Cowles discovered that most scam victims experience “anxiety, depression, and other stress-related health problems afterward.” She heard about victim support groups and ultimately got some therapy to help her make peace with the very difficult aftermath of being a scam victim.

Another victim, a 60-ish father, fell for a “mandatory email upgrade” scam. His son describes his father as a “high-functioning member of society who still works.” After the scam, his father was “very ashamed and freaked out,” the son wrote.

Both Charlotte Cowles and that father did the absolute right thing — they started talking to people they trusted about what happened in order to make an effort to understand why they were vulnerable to the scammer’s approach. Law enforcement agencies say this is the best way for a victim to get re-set and grounded so they will be more prepared to avoid being victimized again.

Because that’s the other thing that’s often even worse than the original scam situation — once a person has proven to be vulnerable to being scammed, chances are the scammers will come back.

The evidence is that scammers have become very business-like. They appear to keep databases. Someone who has been successfully scammed once might go on a “good lead” list for more scam attempts.

Sometimes and cruelly, a scammer will contact a victim a few weeks later with an offer to “help get their money back.” Since most victims would love to get their money back and have it be like the whole nightmare never happened, many are particularly vulnerable to this follow-up scam.

If you have been the victim of a scam, it is essential that you find someone trustworthy to confide in and help you not be scammed again — a friend, family member, therapist, or victim support group. The Canton Anti-Scam Task Force is also there for you. You can connect with them through the Department of Elder & Human Services at 781-828-1323 — ask for Director Diane Tynan or one of their social workers.

Nick Maffeo is the President & CEO of Canton Co-operative Bank in Canton. Have a question? Email to submissions@thecantoncitizen.com.

Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=131103

Posted by Nick Maffeo on Feb 20 2025. Filed under Featured Content, Opinion, Smart About Money. Both comments and pings are currently closed.