If you think that you’re a victim of investment fraud, there are three things that you must know right away – firstly, you can end up being targeted again. Second, you must check your credit rating through an online platform to see whether or not your identity has been stolen, and third, you must get legal advice and assistance as soon as you can.
But, being aware of the three things we’ve mentioned isn’t enough, instead, there are some steps that you’ll have to take in order to shield yourself from any legal trouble and issues down the line. To help you understand what you must do, here is a list of things that you must do if you’ve been a target of an investment scam:
Table of Contents
Step 01: Before Anything Else – Make an Investment File
Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com
Before you even look at the rest of the steps, the very first thing that you must do is to make an investment scam file. What does this mean you should do? Well, it means that you must gather all the important documents connected to the file, and once you do, you should make sure that you keep them in a safe place. It should include info on the person who committed the crime, their email address, phone numbers, and if applicable, their website URL.
Additionally, if the perpetrator left their regulator registration number, you should include that as well and a time frame of everything that happened, even if it does go back a few years. If you’ve already notified the police and other legal departments, you need to also include the statement you obtained from them, as well as any other applicable documents that you might have on the scam. Don’t forget to include your credit report which you can obtain online or through a specific organization.
Step 02: Learn What Privileges You Have
Once you gather all the documents and information that you have on the scam, you should get familiar with the privileges you have. Now, national and in some situations, state law and regulation will give your rights when faced with an investment hoax. Since each state has different and varying regulations, you must learn more about the rights you have, mostly because this will allow you to organize everything better.
Step 03: You Need to Register The Scam With Regulating Bodies
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Besides reaching out to law enforcement, there are other departments that could help you with the problem you’re facing. These departments are referred to as regulatory agencies, and they are available at the state, federal, as well as national levels. Because they deal specifically with investments cons, you should choose to report your situation to them, mostly because they will be capable of helping you throughout the process.
Keep in mind, these agencies deal with different situations, hence, some will allow you to make a complaint, while others will allow you to file tips. Also, it may be beneficial for you if you opt for contacting and filing a notice with the FTC, and you could do this by reaching out to the organization’s FTC complaint representative. This won’t only help you with your case, but it’ll help law enforcement locate and stop other frauds from happening.
Step 04: You Need to Contact Your Lawyer
Source: pittsburgh.legalexaminer.com
If there is one thing that you must take away from this article, it’s the fact that you must contact your lawyer as soon as you determine that you’ve been a victim of an investment scam. Even if you feel like you can do everything by yourself, legal advice is always welcome and your legal representative will be able to tell you which approach is most suitable for your situation. Now, if you don’t have a lawyer, you should start looking for one.
Keep in mind, there is a wide array of legal firms such as MDF-law that specifically deal with such cases, so, if you don’t already have an attorney, you might want to opt for hiring such companies. While browsing, don’t forget to compare everything about specific companies, and more importantly, read the reviews left by previous clients so that you can see whether or not a company was successful in dealing with their cases.
Step 05: If You Haven’t, Contact The Police
As we previously mentioned, it’s important that you contact the police, hence, if you haven’t already, pick up the phone and do it. By reporting it, you’ll be able to start the recuperation process, you’ll have the necessary documents for making a file, and doing this will guarantee that the responsible individuals are investigated, but more importantly, they can help prevent any other people from getting involved with them.
Now, you should know, filing a police report won’t be enough, instead, you’ll also need to contact some other departments including your district and attorney general, as well as the federal law enforcement. By doing so, you’ll guarantee that the perpetrator is being investigated, and more importantly, you’ll ensure that you did everything in your power to help other people from being involved in such scams.
Step 06: Know What Options You Have + Follow Up
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There is no denying – it can be quite daunting and complex to recover the assets you’ve lost to the perpetrator of the scam or any other situation where an investor has faced issues with the investments they opted for making. However, you should know that there are legitimate and legal methods for trying to recover the assets you’ve lost, and because of this, it’s important that you learn what options you have, which you can do by asking your lawyer.
The last task that you’ll want to go through in the entire process is to follow up. This means that you need to take another look at all the things you’ve done so far, and after a month passes of you reporting everything to the police and departments in charge of dealing with investment frauds, you should follow up. Doing so will inform you what they’ve discovered, as well as what happened to the individual that was responsible for the scam.
Conclusion
If you suspect or if you know that you’ve been a victim of investment fraud, you should follow our guide that we’ve created, mostly because it’ll allow you to protect yourself, but more importantly, it’ll ensure that the perpetrator faces legal consequences for their actions.
Since you’ve now learned what you must do if you found yourself in this unfortunate situation, you really shouldn’t spend any more of your time reading articles similar to this one. Instead, you should start with the first task we’ve mentioned, which is gathering all the documents and information needed to create a fraud file.
