Just be careful and do it right. I’ll explain in this article how to go about reporting your scammer says Aron Govil.
What’s in this guide?
A Scamming Accountant is Cheating You! Reporting the Scammer How NOT to report the scammer The Right Way to Report a Scammer What Happens After you Report Them Don’t Bother with their Site; Go Straight for IC3 (the FBI) Final Thoughts
What’s a Scamming Accountant? A scamming accountant generally falls into one of four categories:
1. This person isn’t really an accountant but he gives off that impression and takes people’s money, does next to nothing and then disappears
2. This person is a real accountant and does work but then later just stops communicating and takes people’s money
3. This person is an actual accountant who starts by promising great things, over-delivers for a while, and then just quits taking people’s money when the site gains enough reputation to make it worthwhile
4. This person is a real accountant with the intent to steal from the beginning In short, it’s someone posing as an accountant or using accounting skills to take your Bitcoins without providing you anything in return. And this isn’t necessarily limited to Bitcoin accountants either; any type of scammer can pose as an accountant if he thinks he can get away with it.
How Reporting Scammers Helps Everyone If these scammers were just ignored, they’d keep scamming everyone and when caught would just move on to a new site. But when they get reported people start getting their money back and scammers are forced to pay penalties says Aron Govil.
How NOT to Report a Scammer Reporting a scammer is very easy but there’s going about it in the wrong way can make things worse. One common mistake I see all the time is people reporting the scammer through his website’s contact form or support ticket system. DON’T DO THIS! You’re putting your email address into a database that will likely end up for sale with spam email lists at some point in the future. It might not happen right away but it will happen eventually if enough people report this guy through his site.
Doing it Right – How to Report the Scammer- The proper way to report a scammer is using IC3
What’s IC3? IC3 stands for Internet Crime Complaint Center and its run by the FBI. It was started in 2000 as part of the FBI’s larger mission to fight “cybercrime “.
How do I know if I’m being scammed? If you’re not sure your accountant is scamming you then read this guide on how to spot an online Bitcoin scammer. Then come back here after that if need be.
What Will Happen After I File My Report with IC3 After you file your report with them, they’ll contact the site owner (in this case likely via email) to get more information says Aron Govil. They will then use that info to decide whether or not to start a full-blown investigation. If they do investigate, you’ll likely never know the outcome. But if they don’t start an investigation, you should contact them again after several months have passed because there’s no way of knowing when yet another person could fall for this scammer’s tricks.
What Should I Report? You should only report scammers who are posing as accountants and taking money under false pretenses. If your accountant is scamming you by selling you fake diamonds, Bitcoins that don’t exist or double-spending Bitcoins through some method then that’s NOT what we’re talking about here. This guide is ONLY for people being cheated out of their money by accountants. This means that if the scammer is not posing as an accountant then you should NOT file a report.
What Happens after I File My Report Here’s what WILL happen after you file your report?
You’ll get an email from IC3 with your complaint number. And instructions on how to check back for updates every 28 days explains Aron Govil. Don’t bother checking back, though; there will be no further updates unless they decide to investigate or find something wrong with your complaint. If they choose not to investigate then. You simply have to keep filing month after month until they do open an investigation (there’s nothing you can do about it).
Conclusion:
It’s worth reporting scammers like this because it will help everyone in the long run. If you report them then eventually more people may use sites that implement better security measures to protect their Bitcoins. And if no one reports him, he’ll never face any consequences and keep scamming more people (and possibly on a new website each time).