Getting Money Back After Being Scammed can be a Hassle; Here's how Victims Can Speed up the Process

Losing money to a scam can be traumatic but even after the fraudulent scheme is busted and perpetrators are caught, the victims have to go through a whole different ordeal for recovering their own hard-earned money. According to data from the provincial Department of Justice, only $1.3 million has been paid out of the $14.3 million released through restitution orders.

These orders are issued when the offender is required to pay their victims for any financial loss that they had suffered because of the scam. 

These orders are likely to be paid if it's tied to another order, especially like probation. However, in this case, it is paid directly to the victims from the state and therefore the victims don't need to secure the payment. 

According to other data from 2019-2020 to fiscal 2023-2024, a total of 1,966 restitution orders were issued by the court. Out of these, only 1,277 were stand-alone orders which means that the only condition was to simply make the payment to the victim. 

Fraudsters can be quite good at hiding their funds and moving cash around, which makes it even more difficult for authorities to bring back the money people have lost.

The system is currently not up to the mark and mostly fails the people who have been scammed, since there isn't a system in place to make sure that the scammers have to pay back once they are convicted. This points towards a loophole in the system to deliver justice.

Signs of fraud

Some of the major red flags are unsolicited contact, giving a sense of emergency request for payment in the form of crypto, and more.

Joyce, a member of the force's financial crime unit told CBC "That's the frauds that are reported," he said. "There's some studies out there that suggest that the actual [number of] victims is five times that.

He also talked about how people should be very cautious of romance scams and understand that these fraudsters are using their social engineering skills paired with great technologies to fool common people. 

What to do if you have been scammed

According to the Federal Trade Commission, there are steps you can take if you think you have been scammed.

In case of payment through a credit card or debit card, the best thing to do is to ask your bank to reverse the transaction. In case the scammers made an unauthorized transfer from your bank account, the best thing to do will be to contact your bank.

In case the payment was done with a gift card, contact the company that issued the gift card. Ask them to cancel it and refund your money. If the scammer got your social security number, you can always go to IdentityTheft.gov to see what steps you need to take.

When the scammer has access to a phone or computer, update your computer’s security software and then run a scan. In case the scammer has taken control of your phone, you can contact your service provider.