How to Get Over Being Scammed: Video Series
It’s not just about money. The emotional victimization of scamming is painful and hard to overcome.
Embarrassment, shame, guilt. All of these are natural reactions if you’ve been scammed. It’s hard to admit you’ve been convinced to believe something untrue or do something under false pretenses — especially when money is involved. The organized crime groups behind financial scams are extremely good at what they do. They’re scamming thousands of people and stealing billions of dollars.
You are not alone: 860,000 victims reported a scam to the FBI in 2024.
It’s natural to feel embarrassed or ashamed after being scammed.
Scammers use sophisticated psychological manipulation and have thousands of employees committing their crimes.
According to the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), scammers stole more than $16.6 billion in 2024 — a 33% increase over the year before. Keep in mind, those are just the victims who reported the crimes. Many people are too embarrassed to admit they’ve been scammed and don’t contact law enforcement for help.
Many of these crimes rely on a scammer building your trust through a fake relationship. The sense of emotional violation combined with financial losses can be devastating. How could someone so close to you do something so cruel?
Cathy Wilson, a Licensed Professional Counselor and author of The Emotional Impact of Being Scammed and How to Recover, created a video series to help scam victims recover.
See the full “How to Get Over Being Scammed” playlist on YouTube.
Access more resources for scam victims.
Read about victims’ personal experiences in our Survivor Stories blog.