Tools menu > How to Write a Narrative > Overview    

How to Write a Narrative

Printable format

Overview

Starting with the scam and working through to the last contact with your creditor(s) or any other party involved in the repayment of your debt or consequences of the scam, a narrative is a chronological list of facts, a list of events: “On that date, this happened.”

1. Start with the date you submit the narrative, your name, address, phone(s), how much you owe to the bank or store, and the name of the creditor.

2. Double space between events. If you send us one long paragraph, your narrative will be returned to you for correction.

3. You can describe how you felt at the time of an event, and you can describe how the con artist made you feel, but do not write emotionally. Only the facts and events are useful. The facts tell us about the scammer and his effect on you.

4. Do not lie or try to make the events work in your favor. If you lie or try to color the events, it will only work against you; we can’t determine a course of action if we are relying on inaccurate information.

5. Don’t worry about actions you feel make you look stupid – the scammer’s objective is to get you to act without thinking and your actions tell us what we need to know about the scammer. All scam victims have 20-20 hindsight.

6. If you can’t remember the details of an event, write “I don’t remember” and “to the best of my recollection” to describe parts of an event. Fuzzy memories are okay; you may remember events more clearly later.

7. Clarity: Do not use he, she, they, we, them, or us (you can use “I” when speaking of yourself).

We are not mind readers and a sentence like “he told us that they would send the money to them” creates confusion and will cause your narrative to be returned for clarification. Write “Jim told Mary and me that Union Sweepstakes would send the money to Willgood Insurance Company in London.”

8. Tell your story in your own words – do not try to sound like an attorney or like anyone other than yourself. We do not care about typos or spelling. We don’t care about grammar or punctuation.

We only care about the time line of the events and the truth.