Financial Fraud Complaints – How Can I Complain?
Online investment projects can’t go without risks. The majority of these risks come from market volatility, price movements, and economic events. However, fraudulent investment schemes and fake Forex gurus can be the perpetrators of your financial downfall just as easily.
Sometimes, despite the amount of time you spend researching or being careful, you can still fall victim to a fraudulent scheme. Naturally, everyone would like to correct the state they find themselves in and recover the lost funds as quickly as possible. To whom should the crime be reported, and who solves financial fraud complaints?
Find out by reading the following article as we explore types of complaints and the ways and particularities of reporting.
What is Financial Fraud?
Financial fraud is the act performed by individuals who wish to deceive, trick, and manipulate other individuals for the sake of financial gain. The U.S. Department of Justice website provides an exhaustive definition of this crime.
In essence, financial criminals come up with various schemes, set-ups and lies to present to a targeted audience for the purpose of selling a non-existent service. This alleged service can pertain to different forms of investing, trading platforms, and purchasing crypto assets, for example.
The key is that the victims are only led to believe they will be paying for a premium service, while the actual product is never delivered. Instead, fraudulent companies, websites and other entities profit by collecting deposits and payments. When the victims expect to receive a financial service promised, they are left empty handed.
What’s important is to know that not all is lost after a scam happens. There’s always room for investment fraud complaints. Every scam victim can fight for what is theirs and rely on relevant institutions that provide help.
Common Types of Complaints
In order to be properly advised and to get the right support from authorities, you need to submit your report.
Complaints usually come in the form of a report, which is written online and sent to a government website or email. Other complaints are meant to be filled in, much like online forms that are completed by users and then sent to the relevant institutions.
Most often, how the complaint looks is determined by the type of fraud you’ve fallen victim to. For that reason, we will discuss what kinds of complaints exist and what they comprise.
APP Fraud Complaint
Authorized Push Payment (APP) fraud losses totaled £459.7 million in 2023 only in the UK. This type of fraud happens when victims get tricked into making transactions with illicit firms and anonymous individuals.
While the target is convinced that their money is going to a family member, financial fraud lawyer, bank, or investment company, their funds are being transferred to scammers.
To be able to submit such a complaint, you will need enough proof of the correspondence and transactions done between you and the frauds. Your report must contain evidence of it to inform your bank that the act resulted from fraud.
Fake Crypto Exchange Complaint
It’s common for con artists to impersonate a reputable crypto exchange by making a perfect copy of a famous crypto website. In other cases, many unregulated crypto platforms claim to offer prestigious service and low costs, only to get traders to invest.
Filing a complaint against an unlawful exchange that mimics a renowned platform should be submitted to the original company and its support office, as well as various authorities. This complaint has to include information about the transfers, amount of money lost, how the scammer made contact and other crucial details that prove the scam indeed happened.
Wire Transfer Scam
Wire fraud typically involves being asked to send money to a stranger. Such shady individuals are often trying to impersonate someone close to you or a bank or government official.
Fraudsters will often send a check (money order, cashier check or a personal one) and ask you to cash it in and then send them the money.
Sometimes, it takes days before the check turns out to be fake, but nonetheless, you should immediately report the crime. Complaints should contain evidence of the transfer and correspondence, as well as proof of what was done and when.
Chargeback Disputes
Financial disputes, in general, are a process of disputing a payment and returning the funds to their original owner. Charges and payments can be disputed for various reasons, like not receiving the paid products, double-charged service, technical issues, and fraudulent transactions.
Financial dispute resolution depends on the complaint sent to a relevant payment institution (issuing bank).
For the chargeback to be valid, the payment institution needs solid evidence of the service not being delivered. Furthermore, evidence of communication with the swindler and validation of the transfer are also considered proofs of fraud.
How to File a Complaint? – Step-by-Step Guide
There are plenty of government websites that offer simple reporting tools that you can use to inform the authorities about what happened to you.
These reporting dashboards usually require you to submit a complaint immediately or after you register. The benefits of registering are being able to save and resume your report later and add additional information to your report, as well as get an answer from the authority via email.
The procedure itself is quite simple. By following the instructions and inputting relevant data, you can complete the report relatively quickly. Information about how you got contacted, what was asked of you, the amount of the money lost and the transfer channels used are some of the details you will need to disclose.
Depending on where you reside, use the following links to report financial fraud:
- US – Federal Trade Commission, Department of Justice
- UK – National Fraud & Cyber Crime Investigation Centre
- Canada – Anti-Fraud Centre
- EU – European Anti-Fraud Office
- Australia – Commonwealth Fraud Prevention Centre
- Singapore – Cyber Security Agency
- Malaysia – Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission
- UAE – Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority
- South Africa – Government of South Africa
- Saudi Arabia – National Center for Security Operations
- Qatar – Qatar Financial Center Regulatory Authority
- Japan – Japan Anti-Fraud Organization
- China – HK Police Force
Is There Anyone Who Can Help Me?
Scammed or not, you deserve to know that there’s always a solution to your financial disdain. If you’d like to attempt to retrieve your stolen capital, you should know our fund recovery company can help.
After years of experience and dealing with all kinds of financial fraud, our chargeback specialists have acquired the knowledge and skill to help just about any victim. Our fraud recovery lawyers can support you in order to regain control over lost investments, so don’t hesitate to reach out to us. And don’t forget – the first consultation is always free!