Part 6: Dot-Con follow up

I’ve been getting some great feedback about this series of blogs.  Much thanks to everyone who has been reading them and passing along links to friends.

As part of this investigation I talked to someone at the FBI about ic3.gov and other things people can do when they fall victim to these types of scams.  Here were his thoughts.

1. Report the crime.  This could be entering your information at ic3.gov, going to your local police, contacting the website where the fraud was initiated (if it was initiated through a particular website) or all of the above.  If you don’t report the crime, then there is no chance law enforcement will catch the criminal.  And, if the perpetrator is caught, the only possibility of you getting restitution (in the unlikely event there is restitution), you definitely won’t get restitution unless you report it.  Whatever you do – don’t try to take these criminals down yourself.  By continuing to interact with these people you are only putting yourself more in harms way.  Let the experts – law enforcement – do their jobs.
2. Have appropriate expectations.  Finding and prosecuting these criminals takes time.  It could be years before you hear anything about this.  I know victims want more immediate retribution, but unfortunately, that is extremely rare.
3. [This may be the most important one.] If law enforcement follows up with you later about additional details or needs you to sign a form that you were victimized, PLEASE help them.  There are too many cases where the perpetrator finally goes to trial and because it is years later, law enforcement isn’t able to get victim cooperation.  Don’t let the hard work of the law enforcement agents go to waste!

As I mentioned earlier, I’m hoping to put together an initiative to get the word out about what people to do once they’ve been victimized online.  I’m hoping to work with the APWG, the NCSA, and maybe getsafeonline.org to make this happen.  Please let me know if you want to participate.

Hopefully this series has gotten you thinking about what it is like to be a victim.  I think it is critical that we, as online crime fighters, maintain the perspective of the people for whom we are fighting.