How To Recover Your Money From Online Scammers

The internet is rapidly becoming a broader marketplace today, as more people are taking advantage of the convenience and speed it offers to seal transactions without the need for physical contact.

Social media now accounts for a large volume of e-commerce businesses as it offers free access to consumers for vendors. Unfortunately, however, it has also become a breeding territory for online bad actors. The growing number of users is not divergent from the rising cases of online scams.

The most common form these scammers have taken in recent years has been fake online vendor accounts. These fraudsters pretend to be legitimate sellers of goods and/or services, with some even having phoney websites to increase customer appeal.

While many online sellers are legitimate, scammers use the anonymous nature of the internet to rip off unsuspecting shoppers. They open these online stores for a short time, often selling fake branded clothing or jewellery pictures stolen from other pages or the internet. They typically sell at much lower prices than the normal prices sold by other legitimate sellers to lure unsuspecting victims. After making a number of sales, the stores disappear.

However, if you have recently been a victim of online sales fraud, it's not irredeemable. Here are simple steps to get back your money if you've been scammed by an online vendor.

How to recover your money after being scammed

• Take a screenshot of the conversation you had with the online vendor on social media (Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter).
• Copy out the full name and account details of the vendor who scammed you.
• If you made the transfer via your mobile app or SMS, go to your transaction history and copy out the “Transaction ID Number” of that transaction.
• All banks have a team in charge of online fraud. Send an email to your bank’s E-fraud team as well as the online scammer’s bank, with proof of the transactions, and forward a copy of the mail to CBN FRAUD DESK. This will help the bank to place the scammer's account on hold.
• With this, the scammer will not be able to carry out any transaction until they visit the bank.
•  If you don’t have their email address, you can walk into your bank or the scammer’s bank, and speak to the customer service in charge of fraud to file a complaint.
• Your bank will direct you on the steps to recover your money.
• Report to the police and also speak to a lawyer to file an expert court order. With a court order, the bank will release the information of your scammer to the police to help track them and recover your money.

While these steps will help you recover your money, it is also advisable to protect yourself from online scams by taking these simple steps:

• Look out for reviews on the page before shopping.
• Avoid vendors that have a no-refund policy.
• Scammers also defraud people online through giveaways on their pages that ask you to send money before getting the item that you won. Avoid such giveaways.