Prosecution Information Package

I Have Been Scammed… What Do I Do Now?

REQUEST YOUR PROSECUTION INFORMATION PACKAGE

(please follow these instructions on only if you sent money to the scammers. 

If you have not sent money to the scammers, go to this page)

Prosecution Information Package is a collection of several documents that will explain to you the process you need to follow to file a criminal complaint with Russian / Ukrainian police. The package will also include an exemplar of a properly written complaint, information about the types of evidence that you will need to collect and to present in your complaint. You will also learn about the steps that police follows when investigating a cybercrime report, so you would know what to expect during the course of a typical investigation.

The information is free of charge. To receive it, you will need to fill out the Information Package request form on this page.  Once Elena Garrett receives your request and reviews the facts of your case, she will send you the documents that will be applicable to the facts of your case. Please make sure that you note that you need to contact Western Union / MoneyGram prior to requesting the package.

Let’s Begin

To request the package, you will need to fill out the form below.  The form will ask you about some pieces of information that you want to obtain before you begin filling out the form. Read the What you need to do section before filling out the form.

What you DO NOT want to do

What you need to do

SUBMIT A REQUEST FOR PROSECUTION INFORMATION PACKAGE

Criminal complaint FAQs

What you DO NOT want to do

• do not delete any of the correspondence between you and the scammer and do not throw away records of your money transfers –  those are your evidence of the scam
• do not provide the scammers with links to black lists where their pictures may already be posted
• do not send the scammers any more money no matter what they says
• do not end the correspondence with the scammer

What to do to begin the process of contacting police

• Contact Western Union  or MoneyGram and request information about the pick up date and location of the money transfer(s).
  • ADDITIONALLY: Also ask the representative what kind of steps you can take to place a warning on the receiver’s name, so the next time someone tries to send money to this person they would be warned by a WU / MoneyGram agent that such a warning has been placed on the lady’s name.
• Once you have obtained the information about the location of the money pick-up, fill out the form below.
  • If Western Union / MoneyGram refuse to release the information to you, that is ok. Proceed with filling out the form below.
• Receive the free information package with all the instructions, and an example of a criminal complaint (if you do not receive a response to your inquiry within 5 days, please contact me again at elena@russian-detective.com)
• Create a complaint and collect the supporting evidence (letters, photos, money transfer receipts, etc) according to the instructions that you will receive from me
• Mail your complaint and all the supporting documents to the scammer’s local office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (addresses for the Offices of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Russia and Ukraine will be provided to you in the free information package you will receive by email).
  • If you are a U.S. citizen, please additionally report the scam to the Internet Crimes Complaint Center (IC3): http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx

SUBMIT A REQUEST FOR THE PROSECUTION INFORMATION PACKAGE

By filling out this form you are only requesting general information about the proper sequence of actions you will need to perform to file a complaint with Russian / Ukrainian police. You are not submitting this form to police! You are submitting this form to Elena Garrett for review.

Please note that Elena is a very busy person, so you may not receive a response right away. If you do not hear back from her in 5 days, please contact her separately via email (elena@russian-detective.com).

cforms contact form by delicious:days

Frequently asked questions about the prosecution process

Q. Why do I need to call Western Union to find out where the money was picked up? I already know where money was sent!

A. The location where the money was sent is meaningless. The only important fact is the location where the money was picked up.

Western Union and MoneyGram allow the recipients of the money transfers to pick up money anywhere within the country – not just in the location to which the money was sent. Even if you sent the money to a particular bank or city – it does not matter. The scammers can still receive that money in any other city in the country.

This ability allows the scammers to lie about their true location. They can instruct you to send money to Moscow, which makes you believe that they are in Moscow. But in reality they never went to Moscow, they are hiding someplace else.

The need to identify the pick-up location if two-fold. This allows you to determine the scammers’ true location within the country with greater precision. But more importantly, the location where the last money transfer was received by the scammers will be considered the proper jurisdiction in your complaint needs to be filed.

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Q. Western Union / MoneyGram refuse to tell me the name of the city where the money was received. What should I do?

A. Fill out the Information Request Form anyway. In the form, specify that you were unable to obtain the location information.

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Q. Can I get money back from the scammer?

A. If the scammers are identified and arrested by the law enforcement, you have about 50% chance of recovering your money.

If the scammers are not identified, or if they are identified but not charged, then you probably won’t be able to recover the money.

Overall you chances to recover the money are 2 in 10.

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Q. Why should I try to continue to correspond with the scammer after I discovered the scam?

A. Try to prolong your correspondence for as long as possible. Perhaps, you will need to extract from her some additional information that will help your chances of successful prosecution. Or maybe you will need to collect some additional digital evidence of the scam.

We will let you know what needs to be done to improve your chances of successful prosecution. For now, keep your communication channel with the scammer open.

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Q. The scammer is still waiting for more money from me. Can police arrest her when she picks up to receive the money?

A. As a general rule – no. Receiving money through Western Union is not a crime. The crime is in systematical deception – and the systematic nature of this deception needs to be verified and documented. It takes weeks (if not longer) to review the complaint and to make a decision on the legal bases for opening a criminal investigation. Once the investigation is open, some additional time will be spent on surveillance and obtaining subpoenas and court orders. It is doubtful you will be able to stall your scammer for as long as it takes for the investigation to come to the point where they are ready to start making direct arrests. If they make their move prematurely, they may spook the scammers before all the legal foundation is secured.

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How can I find other victims of this scammer?

Type her name into a Google search engine. Then do the same with her email address. If there are some reports about this lady on other black lists, contact the owners of the black lists for contact information.

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Do you provide any services that could help me to file the proper paperwork with Russian police?

Yes, we provide a number of services that will help you to get through the process quicker and easier. But our prosecution assistance services are a separate matter. We provide you with the Information Package completely free of charge, but additional services performed on  your behalf would probably have to be reimbursed to us.