How Do “Follow-Up” Scams Work? Explained
We discuss “follow up” scams – scams that can often be used to target victims who have already been scammed by cyber-crooks before.
What is a “follow-up” scam?
If you’ve been scammed online, whether it’s an online romance scheme, a phishing attack or even the classic “Nigerian Prince” scam, you may think that once you’ve identified the scam, shut down communication and dealt with the immediate consequences, then the scam is in the past.
Unfortunately, cyber-crooks have realised that previous victims often prove to be vulnerable to a variety of “follow-up” scams designed to extract even more money. This is largely down to two reasons.
- Firstly, the victim has already demonstrated a vulnerability to online crime.
- Secondly, the victim has likely already given away personal information about themselves in the original scam, which can then be consequently used to execute a more targeted scam against the victim.
Follow-up scams can occur directly after the first scam or sometime after, and may take a completely different guise to the original scam.
In this article we look at some social engineering tricks that scammers use in these “follow-up” targeted scams, and how they can exploit previous victims of online fraud by using the victim’s own personal information against them.
The “safe bank account” scam
The “safe bank account” scam works when cyber-crooks contact previous victims of online fraud (via email or phone) pretending to be either law enforcement or the security team of the victim’s bank. The crooks will likely know, from a previous scam, both the victim’s name and the name of their bank, as well as other personal information about the victim.
The scammers will claim that the online fraudsters who scammed the victim the first time are continuing to try and gain access to the victim’s bank account, and their money is no longer safe.
The scammers will attempt to lure the victim – under the disguise of law enforcement or the victim’s bank – to transfer their money into what the scammer describes as a “safe bank account”, in order for the victim to protect their money.
This is a scam, and the “safe bank account” is actually the scammer’s bank account. Note that neither law enforcement nor any bank will request you transfer money into a different account in order to keep it safe.
It’s worth noting that the “safe bank account” scam can also be used by itself, meaning it does not necessarily exclusively target previous victims of online fraud.
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The “victim compensation fund” scam
The crux of this follow-up scam is that the victim is contacted and told that because they have been scammed they are able to obtain some type of financial compensation from a “victim’s fund”.
This particular follow-up scam can take on different guises. Scammers will contact the victim (through email or phone) and can pretend to be representing a particular legitimate entity, law enforcement or even a fellow victim. Again the scammers are likely to use the victim’s personal information in the scam to make it appear more convincing. However in all cases, the victim is told they can get compensated for their loss from an earlier scam by using a particular company or victim’s compensation fund.
Often this is an advance fee scam, whereas the victim needs to pay smaller upfront costs in order to receive a much larger payout (which doesn’t really exist.) However it can also be used to lure victim’s into parting with even more of their sensitive information, such as their banking and financial information.
The money retrieval scam
The money retrieval scam is where a victim is contacted by a scammer pretending to be law enforcement or a similar entity (again, via phone or email). The scammer claims they can retrieve the money the victim lost in an earlier online scam, for a small charge.
This is essentially a version of advance fee fraud. The victim is told they must pay a comparatively small fee in order to receive a much larger payout. Of course any more money the victim hands over to retrieve their stolen money is also stolen.
In some cases, the scammer may initially claim to be a fellow victim in order to recommend a particular firm or company who allegedly specialise in money retrieval.
Law enforcement do no charge to retrieve stolen money, so any claim to the contrary is going to be a scam.
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Avoid these scams
Remember, follow-up scams can be particularly convincing because the crooks already know personal information about their victim, meaning the scam can be more targeted. If you know someone who has been scammed before, make sure they are aware of the above schemes, because crooks can strike at any time.
- Beware any unsolicited requests claiming you can be compensated or have any money retrieved. These will be scams.
- If you are unexpectedly contacted by phone or email by someone about a previous scam in which you were the victim, remember not to take the person at face value. Don’t be pressured into something and never hand over sensitive information over phone or email.
- Always give yourself time, and if the person claims to be contacting a legitimate entity, contact that entity directly using the information from their official website to verify any claims.