We all make mistakes, sometimes we make the ones we regret for the rest of our lives. Let’s say the worst has happened, that despite all the warnings given to you and against your better judgment you still fell prey to an online scam.  Let’s say someone was able to steal money from you or weasel sensitive data from you like your bank account number, credit card number or social security number. What now? 

Here are the things you should do: 

Falling Victim to Identity Theft – For U.S. Citizens 

Put a Fraud Alert on Your Credit Reports - Placing a red flag on your credit report tells lenders and creditors that they should take extra steps to verify if it’s really you making the request for credit. You can contact credit reporting agencies like Experian, Equifax or TransUnion to place a 90-day fraud alert on all three of your credit reports. 

You can also put a “security freeze” on your credit report. These way creditors will not be able to access your credit report and new applications will automatically be declined. 

Report to the Authorities – If you plan to take legal action eventually, which you should, everything has to be based on a police report. Report the incident to your local police first. 

You should also report the incident to the Federal Trade Commission. Call them at 877-438-4338 or mail them at 600 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington DC 20580. 

Both your police report and FTC report combine to create your Identity Theft Report. This report will help you when working with the credit reporting agencies or any other companies to identify those responsible for stealing your identity. 

Contact Any Institution that May Be Directly Affected or that Can Control Damage – If you gave out your bank account number then contact your bank. If you gave out your credit card details contact your credit card company. 

If you gave out Social Security Number you can contact the Social Security Administration at 800-269-0271 and the Internal Revenue Service at 800-829-0433. 

Falling Victim to Online Scams 

They didn’t get your bank account number, but they still manage to steal money or get your email address from you to send spam or malware. These still fall under cybercrime. You can report incidents to the Internet Crime Complaint Center or IC3. 

IC3 is a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National White Collar Crime Center and takes cases of Internet fraud. 

The victims or anyone representing the victims can file a report with the IC3. The following has to be provided: 

• Name of the victim
• Mailing address of the victim
• Telephone number of the victim
• The name, address, telephone number and web address of the person or group believed to have defrauded the victim
• Details of the case and other relevant information that may be necessary to support the complaint 

Act Fast 

If you don’t move quickly thieves could be accessing the money in your bank account, making purchases with your credit card numbers of swiping your tax refund or even registering a change of address with your social security number. Yes, you became a victim, but now it’s time to fight back. 

For Non U.S. Citizens 

If you are from another country other than the U.S., you can follow similar guidelines as stated above. These steps include: Notifying local and/or national police, contact your government department that deals with cybercrime, contact your government that issued you your national identify card, contact the credit bureaus in your country, make sure you keep all correspondence with anyone who contacted you for personal information, and be diligent in following up with such agencies or government departments. 

Crime Happening While Staying in Thailand – What To Do

If you are in Thailand, you can contact the local Thai Tourist Police. The Tourist Police Bureau of Thailand was created on the first of September in 2017. In it's 4 years of existance, it was meant to make the Tourist Police Division better in this particular field. The Thai Tourist Police was actually created in 1992 and had its origins back in 1976. The Thai Tourist Police is a department of the Royal Thai Police. The Royal Thai Police is the main law enforcement agency in the country. The creation of the Thai Tourist Police was because the tourism and entertainment industries in Thailand were growing every year and the number of people going to Thailand from other countries was actually growing expodently. In fact in 2019, Thailand received more tourists per year than any other country in Asia and Bangkok is ranked number 1 in tourism worldwide. The main job of the Thai Tourist Police in Thailand is to provide cooperation to foreignors and to help them increase their security.

Our team in Thailand

We have a fully staffed and very capable team in Thailand including a Customer Manager, Support Staff, and VIP Concierge. Feel free to explore our website. You will find extremely informative information on our services. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us anytime. You can also send us an e-mail at joy@thaisingles.co or contact us here https://thaisingles.co/contact-us