There is a lot of information on this page - please read everything carefully

Credit Card Accounts:

You have withdrawn the money from your credit card account and have spent and/or sent the money

Cease all correspondence with the scammers.  Do not open or answers their emails.  If you have caller ID, do not answer their calls.  If you do answer the phone, hang up as soon as you realize who is calling you.  If they persist, blow a whistle into the telephone.  If you are being threatened, please go here: http://www.fraudaid.com/threats.htm

If you have been corresponding with the scammers by email and/or have gone to a web site they told you is theirs, you are at high risk of Identity Theft even if you have bad credit.  Go here: www.fraudaid.com/id_theft.htm.

File a Scam Email Report with our Law Enforcement Support Division.  You will find step-by-step graphic instructions for your email service here: www.fraudaid.com/find_headers.htm.

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You have withdrawn the money from your credit card account and have spent and/or sent the money

Keep a log of each person's name, title, phone number and extension, date, time, and what was said.  Do this for the entire time you are working with your bank to repay the debt, regardless of who you talk to.  So long as it has to do with the repayment or the scam, keep a record of your contact in your contact log. 

It may seem like a bother now, but you will really be glad you have the log later.

Tell your credit card company that you want all contact in writing and if they call you, you want

  File a police report immediately.  If your local law enforcement will not take a Fraud Report, ask to file a General Crime Report.  You will need a copy or the report number for your credit card company.

Contact Western Union or MoneyGram, depending on which you used to wire the money, and ask for a tracking report of the money you sent off to the scammers.  You may need a copy to add to your police report, and you may need a copy for the credit card company.  This is not an essential step, but is still a wise one.

Contact your credit card company and explain that you are a scam victim.

What happens next depends on the credit card company.  They may send your case to their Fraud Department or Investigations Department; different companies have different names for this department.   Being sent to Investigations is a good thing.

The Investigations Department may ask you to send them the emails you received from the scammer.  If they do, please follow the instructions listed here: How to Find the Full Headers in Your Email Account to send them.

Credit card companies are more accustomed to fraud than nearly any other entity save for federal agencies.  They've seen it all.

Whether your case is sent to Investigations or not, and depending on the amount owed as a result of the scam, you may lose purchasing power on your card until the amount is paid down.

You may regain purchasing power once your card is back below your normal credit limit or you may have to negotiate with the company in order to keep your card.

The harder you work with your credit card company, and remain in contact with them, the better your chances are of being given a clean bill of credit health once your repayment is made.

If you have any trouble with the credit card company or anyone in the Investigations Department, please contact us at and we will send you to our Law Enforcement Support Division which will attempt to run interference for you.

However, we cannot do that unless you have pulled out all the stops to work with the credit card company and keep hitting a dead end.

If you contact us, we will need a copy of your correspondence with them, a record of your phone conversations, and the person to contact at the company.

Consider that you may have to file bankruptcy, which does not mean you will lose your home or your cars.  See BankruptcyAction.com where your questions about bankruptcy will be answered: http://www.bankruptcyaction.com/questions.htm.

However, if your situation has reached the point where the creditor's court has issued a judgment for the amount owed, be sure you don't wait more than 90 days to get the bankruptcy filed or you may find you still have to pay the debt.

On the other hand, bankruptcy may be the solution that allows you to pay the debt.  Only you can make that determination with the advice of your bankruptcy attorney.

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DO NOT IGNORE THE SITUATION.  We can guarantee you that if you decide this is credit card company's problem, not yours and you refuse to answer their calls and correspondence, you will either be taken to civil court or arrested or both!