A Debt Lawyer Can Help Victims of Scams and Financial Abuse
We have all heard about little old ladies who spent their life’s savings on a sweet-talking email correspondent who claimed to be a prince who needed Grandma’s help to pay his ransom. Scams and fraud can happen to anyone, though. You are in the prime of your life, and you are nowhere near naïve enough to fall for a romance scam, lonely as you may be. In many instances of fraud, the fraudster is someone that the victim knew and trusted. Unfortunately, creditors do not care about all of those details. They just want their money. Fraud and financial abuse are as painful financially as they are emotionally. Your true friends and most trustworthy family members can help you restore your ability to trust people, but to recover financially after a scam, you need a Miami debt lawyer.
How Can You Get Your Money Back After a Scam
Fraud is a crime, and if you find out that someone defrauded you, you should notify the police. The scammer might face criminal charges for wire fraud or mail fraud, depending on whether the fraudulent communications took place by phone or email. Financial exploitation of an elderly person is a felony, whether the abuse took the form of fraud or simply pressuring the victim to spend money he or she did not want to spend. If the scammer or financial abuser gets convicted, the court may order him or her to pay restitution to you, which means that the scammer will have to pay you back the money that you lost as a result of the scam.
If the scammer does not get convicted, but you know who scammed you, you may be able to file a lawsuit against the scammer in civil court. If the case settles or the court rules in your favor, you will get your money back.
Furthermore, as soon as you find out that a fraudster has made a fraudulent purchase from your account, call the bank or credit card and dispute the charge. Sometimes that is all it takes to get your money refunded. If your bank or credit card company is not convinced that the charge was fraudulent, contact a lawyer.
Bankruptcy Can Help You Discharge Debts That Fraudsters Caused You to Incur
If the banks and the courts do not help you get your money back after a scam, filing for bankruptcy is an option. The bankruptcy court can discharge the debts you incurred because of the fraud. Remember that, in bankruptcy, you do not have to prove that the debt was the result of a scam. Bankruptcy courts also discharge debts if the root cause of the debt was illness, unemployment, or simply a borrower living beyond his or her means.
Work With a Debt Lawyer About Recovering From a Scam
A South Florida debt lawyer can help you rebuild your finances if you are deeply in debt because of fraud. Contact Nowack & Olson, PLLC in Miami, Florida to discuss your case.
Source:
leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0800-0899/0825/Sections/0825.103.html
