On the Internet we can fall victim to many scams, often carried out with very simple techniques (phishing) or with the help of malware designed for the purpose (such as spyware, trojans and cryptominers). Stopping hackers is practically impossible, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be discouraged: nice scam report it will allow us to lift the veil on the scam we have fallen into and, if the investigations follow their course, it is not uncommon to be able to recover at least part of what has been stolen from us.
In fact, in the following guide we will show you the steps to carry out for report a computer scam to the Policeespecially at Postal and Communications Police (also in charge of keeping track of online reports and complaints).
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1) Things to do immediately in case of online scam
If we have suffered an online scam or have realized that we have fallen victim to a scam, we must immediately take remedial measures, at least to prevent the scam from continuing or from doing even more damage.
I steps to follow for any type of online scam I am:
- Block stolen credit or debit card: if we have provided credit card or ATM numbers on bogus sites or scam sites, we immediately block the cards by calling the bank that issued them.
- We change passwords to accounts: if we have been asked for the credentials of some account to carry on the scam, we immediately change the password, so as to prevent further access. The most sensitive passwords to scams are those of Facebook, Google, Instagram, Apple, Amazon, eBay, all e-mail accounts and the home-banking access password.
- We scan devices for viruses: if the scam was carried out using malware, we immediately scan the PC with Malwarebytes or mobile devices with powerful antivirus such as ESET Mobile Security.
- We file a complaint with the Postal Police: after having secured the cards, devices and accounts, we collect all the data in our possession (email, links to web pages, chats, etc.) and prepare to file a complaint with the Postal Police (as we will see later).
- We leave a warning negative review: if the scam concerns an online sales site or an exchange site, it is advisable to warn other users of possible scams, using an evaluation and feedback service such as Trust pilot.
If we have fallen victim to a scam on Amazon or eBay, we advise you to read our guides on how to recognize fake reviews on amazon come on how to buy online in safety and with guarantee.
2) How to report fraud to the Postal Police
To report an online scam and try to recover the lost money, we can contact the Postal and Communications Policethe department of State Police specialized in telematic crimes.
The report can be made in two ways: directly online on the site dedicated to reports and scams (fast and practical) and in any barracks of the State Police (recommended if we want to leave a report of the scam and follow the case closely once reported).
Online scam report
To report an online scam just connect to Notifications page of the Postal Police, click on the link Complaint for telematic crimes and fill in the required data.
If we come across a suspicious web page, if we have started a suspicious chat or we have received a phishing message (which we did not believe) in this case we must not make a complaint but a report by opening the page Report online and filling in all the required data.
Report to the Police live
If the damages we have suffered from the scam are huge or we are unable to figure it out, we cannot limit ourselves to reporting or making a complaint on an online site: in this case it is always advisable to go to a State Police Station and let us redeem the report with the complaint.
Before going to the police station, make sure you have a valid identity document at hand, print all the sheets that may be useful for reporting (phishing email, phishing page, scam site, web page of the scam object or any other element associated with the scam) and let us help you draft the complaint.
If we don’t know where the nearest police station is, we can get help from White pages or give Yellow Pagesindicating the city where we live and entering in the search field Police station.
Conclusions
Being scammed online is never pleasant, but in these cases you have to keep your nerve and proceed quickly blocking any cards we have provided online and changing passwords to any accounts exposed to the scam.
Once you secure your cards and accounts we can proceed with the actual complaintto be done at a Police station or using one of the methods seen to report or report online scams.
I’ll let you know right away it is very difficult to get your money back in the case of well-developed scams, but if we are quick we can block transactions and receive the money back (if we have suffered a theft from a bank account); the thing gets complicated if we suffer scams on the PostePay card or other prepaid cards, also used by the bad guys to immediately withdraw the money in cash once the scam has been carried out.
To avoid scams we can read our guides on how protect online bank accounts from email attacks and scams come on how to avoid scam SMS and spam.