How Do You Track a Scammer (2023)

With loopholes and intelligence developing rapidly, technology has effectively been the bridge for most wrong deeds to occur. One of which is being vulnerable to an ongoing scam. If you have been scammed, fret not, as you can easily find the ideal answers to get hold of the scammer. By utilizing the information in the article, you can easily provide an answer: How do you track a scammer? Scams on various platforms and methodologies can be categorized based on personal interest. As in most cases, scams happen when your phone number is known to the scammer; the answer to the question of how to track a scammer through a phone number will be answered here. Hence, consider the advantage of being cautious and grabbing the chance to catch the scammer. Let’s proceed with the article and find out how to trace a phone scammer.

Here, we have explained the ways to track down someone who scammed you in detail.

How to Track Down Someone Who Scammed You

The Scammers would use burner email addresses or temporary phone numbers to ensure they don’t get tracked down. In addition to this, they may be ghosted from their social media accounts and profiles. At most times, the scammers would exhibit one or many characteristics as listed below.

• Same usernames- The scammer would have multiple accounts with the same username, or the username of the person may be similar to other accounts.
• Gift cards- The scammer would trick you into purchasing any gift card or utilizing any offer. These may be either outdated or in some cases, may not exist, as well
• Asking for financial assistance- If the person asks for financial assistance by quoting the need for any empathetic matter, you have known the answer to how do you track a scammer.
• Familiar- To gain trust and confidence, the person would speak with you in a familiar tone and say that you two are well-acquainted.
• Urgent tone- Scammers would have a tone of urgency that tells you to act instantly. They take the advantage of the minimal time to gain the maximal benefit without blowing their covers.
• Delete accounts- The scammer if found to be not genuine, would delete all the posts or his account completely without any prior notice.
• No reply– The person would cut off contact with you and all the questions may remain unanswered

Method 1: Through Search Engine Research

The search engines, like Google, Bing, and Yahoo, use a set of algorithms to find out the source of a person. You can use the options listed here to search for the exact identity of the person using any of the digital trails of the person.

• Search the name of the person with quotation marks on the search bar, such as, “Robert onsen”.

• Connect the username of the account to any of the pseudonyms or try reversing the characters of the name to find a match. As mentioned in the previous option, search for the person using the search bar.
• If you have the email address of the person, the answer to the question of how do you track a scammer is simple. You can type the email address on the search bar and verify if the results page points to any verified business or personal account
• To know how to track a scammer through phone number, you can search for it on the web. If the person’s phone number is blocked or reported as spam, you can get an idea of the number in the web result as well.
• You can also search for other factors like business name, vehicle license plate, or address, on the search bar to get an idea of the location or profession of the person.

Method 2: Through WHOIS Domain Search

The WHOIS Domain Search tool helps in locating the registration information of a website from the relevant database that contains information of all relevant websites based on the query using the in-built WHOIS search engine. This is usually used to find out the owner of the website or the availability of a particular domain name, however, you can use it to find out how to track down someone who scammed you. If the person is listed on the verified website, you can understand the person is genuine. This can help in taking caution while proceeding with the payments.

Also Read: Top 28 Best Bug Tracking Tools

Method 3: Through IP Tracing

If the person has not hidden or altered their IP address using software like VPN, you can easily trace the location of the person using their IP address. To know how do you track a scammer, you can search the geolocation of the IP address using the What is My IP Location website, and find the coordinates of the person.

• If the person has a public profile, you can use the WHOIS Domain Search as discussed earlier to find the IP address.
• If you have received an email from their Gmail account, you can click on the three vertical dots on the top-right corner of the message, and then click on the Show original option to reveal the IP address.

Method 4: Through Internet Archive Wayback Machine

To find how to trace a phone scammer, you can use the details listed for the search result of any particular phone number on this Internet Archive website. It helps in finding the genuineness of a particular website, regardless of the operation status of the website. Even if the website is shut down, outdated, removed, or changed, you can have a basic idea of how the website looked at a particular date and time.

Also Read: How to Find or Track your Stolen Android Phone

Method 5: Through Social Media Profiles

One of the widely practiced options to trace any person is to verify their Social media activity or by identifying the person’s Social media profile. The Social media platforms include Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and LinkedIn.

• Being the hub that contains information about all people on the web, you can try searching for the person on various Social Media platforms. This will help in identifying the person and finding if they are genuine or not.
• Also, if there are multiple profiles, the answer to how do you track a scammer can be found by narrowing down the search result with filters like their place of residence or work.
• If you can get access to any of their pictures, you can use it to perform a reverse image search to find the person.
• To find how to track a scammer through phone number or email address, you can use it to search on the search bar of these platforms. If the results direct you to a genuine and verified profile, the person is not a scammer.

Method 6: Through Reverse Lookup Tools

If you have some evidential information about the person, you can use the various lookup tools to search for the true identity of the person. The possible options to search for the person are given in this section.

Option I: Username Lookup Tools

If you have the specified username or the contact details of the person on any of the social media platforms, it can be easy to find how to track down someone who scammed you, as you can look up the username in the tools to find the identity of the person.

• In case the person contacts you through various social media platforms, you can use username lookup tools like BeenVerified to search for the identity of the person. The well-constructed report would have all the essential information required to find out if the person is genuine.
• For finding how do you track a scammer, in addition to the methods given here, you can search for the person using their email address on these lookup tools. You can get an idea of other lookup tools that searches the identity of the person across the enormous database using the link given here.

Option II: Phone Lookup Tools

If you have the phone number of the person, as usually happens in phone scams, you can use it to find how to trace a phone scammer by performing a phone lookup to identify the person.

• The reverse phone lookup tools have enormous databases from which the details of the person can be matched using the comprehensive data engine. At the end of the people search, you can obtain a detailed report. You can read our guide on various phone lookup tools like Intelius and other alternatives to find how to track a scammer through phone number using the link given here.
• Another option is to trace the number using the TrueCaller website and identify the original details of the person.

Also Read: How to Unlist Your Number from Truecaller

Option III: Reverse Image Search

To gain trust, it is common for scammers to post fake profile pictures on their social media accounts. To find out if the person is genuine or not, you can save the picture and run a reverse image search on the web that uses image metadata and proprietary technology to scan the images. The source of the picture would get displayed which you can use to find how do you track a scammer. If you find the picture pointing to the specified social account, the person is not a scammer. To learn about many such reverse image search tools, you can use the link given here.

Option IV: Track Location

To find if the person exists or not, you can try searching for the person on any of the tracking websites like GeoFinder. Read the article using the link given here to find out the methods to track someone on Google Maps.

Method 7: Through Public Records

If you are aware of the real name of the person, along with a few essential pieces of information, you can use them to cross-verify with the public records. This can be verified from personal information such as date of birth, in all the documents and files contained by the Government. As this process is tedious and time-consuming, it is necessary to ensure that you get access to maximal and precise information, such as full name or social security number.

Method 8: Hire Private Investigator

If you feel like there is an urgent need to find how to track down someone who scammed you accurately and quickly, you can hire a private investigator as a final option. The main advantage of the option to find how do you track a scammer is that, the investigator would use his specialized knowledge and experience in attempting and finding the exact identity of the person. To fasten the investigation, it is best to choose an investigator whose experience lies in conducting online scam investigations.

Also Read: 20 Best Cell Phone Tracking Apps

Precautions to Avoid Further Scams

The best course of cautionary action can always be fruitful to avoid any further loss of valuable information. As an initial step, it is necessary to admit the fact that there is some loophole on your side but being scammed is not completely your fault. You can follow the recommendations given in this section to find out how to trace a phone scammer and avoid any further scams.

• Avoid and Block Spam Calls: As a first step to finding how to track a scammer through phone number, block the numbers that are marked as Spam or that you feel to be Spam. Stop contact with the person you feel to be a scammer and in addition, avoid calls that come from unknown numbers. Also, if you receive any phone calls, in which, the person claims to refund the lost money in a scam, cut off the contact immediately.
• Use Escrow Service: To avoid loss of money and valuable data, it is preferable to use an escrow service, in which, the exchange of goods and money is handled through an acknowledged third party. To find out how do you track a scammer, you have to validate the email address from which you receive the email and other information.
• Use Authorized Payment Gateway:Avoid paying for any unauthorized service and stick to using well-known online retailers. If the payments page on the website is not marked secure, avoid paying to the site; and in the worst case, if you have paid to the website, avoid paying any further.
• Secure Access:The first step is to alter the user credentials of all platforms to limit unauthorized access to your accounts. If the person has remote access to your PC, it is advised to update the security software, run a virus scan and delete the malware and keylogging software. Also, it is best to use validated anti-virus software. In case of phone scams, contact your Network Service Provider to regain access to your phone and alter your account password, such as iTunes on iPhones.
• Check Validity of Financial Security:If you have active insurance, you can check if the insurance covers the losses incurred during the scam. Also, you can contact a tax consultant or a financial counselor to ask if the money lost is reversible, and then find out how to track down someone who scammed you.
• Reverse Transactions: It is best to reverse the transactions before finding the answer to how do you track a scammer. If you have processed some payment, it is best to cancel or reverse the transaction, if the page has been loading for a longer duration. If you have paid using your debit or credit card, you can contact the respective Banks and ask them to reverse the transactions. In case of wired transactions, you can contact a Wire Transfer Company like MoneyGram and request them to not process the payment. If you have paid using a money transfer app, it is best to contact them and ask them to reverse the charges. In case of an expired gift card, you can contact the Gift card company, provide the gift card receipt as evidence, and ask them to refund the money, if it is eligible for a refund. If you have sent the money as cash by mail or any delivery service, you can contact the US Postal Inspection Service or the respective service and ask them to intercept the charge. To find how to track a scammer through phone number, you can notify the companies of the phone number linked to your bank account. It is not the case in Cryptocurrency, as it is usually irreversible, however, you can try contacting them for assistance.

• Report to Authorities:To notify others of a pertaining scam and to take immediate action to recover the lost money, it is best to report the matter to the concerned authorities. You can report the case to the Police, FTC (Federal Trade Commission Consumer Advice), or Credit Bureaus like Equifax. In the case of money scams, it is best to report the issue to the concerned banks. For this purpose, you have to collect all information and supporting documents and then, file a case against the scammer.

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The article answers the question of how do you track a scammer. Kindly spare a few minutes to let us know your suggestions and queries in the comments section. Also, please let us know which of these methods was effective in answering the question of how to track down someone who scammed you.