How to Track Down Someone Who Scammed You: Methods for Each Type of Scam

If you’ve been a victim of a scammer, it seems like tracking them down is an impossible task. However, you can maintain a calm mindset and gather all the information you can about the scammer. These include phone numbers, names, email addresses, chats, texts, images, photos, and transaction IDs. Then, depending on your information, use one of our tested methods how to track down someone who scammed you.

Why is it important to know?

In fact, 83% of Americans received a scam phone call in 2022, while the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed 2.4 million fraud reports in that year. The dollar amount in losses is quite staggering at almost $8.8 billion.

The Internet Crime Complaint Center received 800,944 scam reports and losses of over $10.3 billion. There are all sorts of scams, but imposter scams are top of the list. This is where someone calls, texts, or emails you and convinces you they are someone in authority.

You may also be a victim of online shopping and online dating scams. Not to mention lotteries, sweepstakes, business investment scams, and job opportunity scams.

Note: If you have been scammed, reporting the incident to law enforcement agencies is essential, especially if you have lost money, your identity has been compromised, or there’s a threat to your life.

Convinced and ready to resist scammers? Let’s get it started.

Comparison Table of Tools for Tracking a Scammer

Let’s compare the types of search available, prices and trials.

We took some resources from the top reviews of the best, and almost all of them were awful. So trust only verified sources of information or blogs of specialized services related to telecommunications. For example, like our HeyLocate blog.

Use TruthFinder to Track Scammer’s Phone Number

Most scammers use phone numbers to call, text, and chat you up before pulling their scam shot. However, you can use TruthFinder to verify their identity since it uses several databases, including public records, to source information.

Which Type of Scam it Helps with:

• phone scams;
• online dating scams;
• job opportunities scams.

User Experience:

TruthFinder is perhaps the best option for how to track a scammer using a phone number. You only need the phone number to discover their identity if the person calls or texts.

During my test, I used the service’s reverse phone lookup to track down a scammer. The only free information on TruthFinder is the person’s location and name. Thus, I could use this information to look further into the person.

However, TruthFinder could get the person’s public records to reveal their identity with a paid account. It showed me their personal info and a detailed phone report that included all other phone numbers registered under the individual. It also displayed a detailed location report indicating their address and whether they were receiving mail.

Using TruthFinder, I found that I could conduct a background check and see the criminal records. This information could be useful when gathering data for liaising with a local law enforcement agency. Furthermore, TruthFinder listed the job details, ensuring I could verify whether the person was an imposter. This search engine is comprehensive, and I got a PDF report. You can leverage its features to track down a scammer.

Another cool feature of TruthFinder is that you can track your information and determine if it’s on the dark web. If you’ve been a victim of fraud, your information may land on the dark web. Thus, it’s a good idea to have TruthFinder monitor it, so it does not land in the wrong hands.

Try TruthFinder

Read also: How to Do a Free Scammer Phone Number Lookup

Try Intelius If You Know Scammer’s Name

Scammers can have multiple phone numbers, but not many identities. Thus, if you know their name, it’s time to track them down using Intelius.

Which Type of Scam it Helps With:

• imposter scams;
• phishing scams;
• online dating scams;
• job opportunity scams;
• email phishing scams.

User Experience:

Intelius was a great option for tracking a scammer using a name. As one of the most popular people search engines, I was impressed by the depth of the records provided with just a name. First, Intelius offered the person’s full name, location, and phone carrier for free.

After paying for a 6-day trial that cost $0.95, Intelius provided me with as much information as I would have if I had hired a private investigator. The information was well arranged, starting with the person’s identity, date of birth, aliases, and possible relatives. There was also a full list of their contact details, location history, traffic and criminal records, and a background report.

Intelius’s background report entailed employment details that prove helpful if an imposter offers you a job. I liked finding a police report online instead of visiting my local law enforcement agency. Intelius listed the individual’s social media accounts and links to the various social media sites. It made it easy to track down a scammer by separating fake accounts from real ones.

Intelius provided me with specialized knowledge, proving to be a credible source of information when tracking a scammer by name.

Try Intelius

Track Scammer’s Email with BeenVerified

Wondering how to track down someone who scammed you via email? BeenVerified searches public records and finds the owner of an email address.

Which Type of Scam it Helps With:

• email phishing:
• phone scams;
• imposter scams.

User Experience:

BeenVerified is one of the best defenses against email scams. All I did was enter the scammer’s email address and click search. BeenVerified searched public records to find the person behind the email. This search engine tracked the scammer’s IP address. It showed me various information, such as location, background, online photos, contact details, home information, job, and education.

BeenVerified did not provide any information for free. I used the $1 trial for seven days to access the information I wanted from the platform. It gave me potential name and identity matches. I would track a scammer down after a phishing attack or an imposter email.

With Intelius, the email lookup found alternate emails and could pinpoint locations in case I wanted to know where there were sent from before opening an email. Thus, apart from knowing who is scamming you, BeenVerified also helps avoid potential email scams.

Try BeenVerified

Use PeopleLooker to Track Scammer on Social Media

Social media scams are so common that falling for one is easy. One of the common ploys is a person using a fake profile with a fake company or logo to convince you they are a credit card company or other institution. Here’s how you can track a scammer on social media using PeopleLooker.

Which Type of Scam it Helps With:

• social media scams;
• imposter scams;
• email scams;
• phone call scams.

User Experience:

PeopleLooker conducts social media lookups through a person’s username. I could also use the person’s Twitter handle to reveal the person’s identity. I entered the social media username of my target, and PeopleLooker found the associated social media accounts and other accounts associated with the person.

PeopleLooker revealed that the account belonged to a scammer by providing links to their public phone numbers, fake names, and business names they used to scam other victims. I could track down the scammer with PeopleLooker by connecting the account to the person.

PeopleLooker found social media accounts from all major social media platforms, including Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook. Apart from these, I searched usernames on Quora, Imgur, and Yelp. Thanks to PeopleLooker, I unmasked a catfish and avoided potential financial loss. PeopleLooker even revealed their marital status, meaning I could not fall for their catfishing scam.

Based on my experience, PeopleLooker is an incredible tool for avoiding e-commerce fraud. It revealed whether the account was legit which can help you avoid common scams like revealing sensitive information by filling out an online form. Overall, it’s a legitimate service for how to find a scammer.

Try PeopleLooker

Check Scammer’s Website With Whois

A fraudulent website can deceive you into providing sensitive information or send money for identity theft, financial gain, and malware distribution. Whois can help you verify a domain.

Which Type of Scam It Helps With:

• phishing scam websites;
• online shopping scam websites;
• sweepstakes scam websites;
• bogus free trials.

User Experience:

I used Whois to identify who owns a domain and how to contact the owner. This website worked great as it presented all relevant information about a domain. It contained the registrar’s name and contact, the registration date, name servers, the most recent update, and the expiration date.

Whois domain lookup is free. I did not need to choose plans to check out a website. Once I entered the domain I wanted to search, Whois gave me the registrar, name servers, and the domain’s registration dates. It also gave me useful additional information about the domain. It gave me the registrar’s administrative and technical information and a detailed report of the registrant’s contact.

The contact details were useful for tracking down a scammer since the report had the organization’s name behind the website, street, city, postal code, phone number, fax, and email address. Whois allowed me to track down a website’s information in one spot. Therefore, I could determine if it was a scammer’s website if they had not set the registration details to private.

The Whois domain looked also allowed me to compare real and fake websites. It had a list of related websites I could look up on the spot and compare details between real and fake websites. This feature was valuable since most scam websites pose as legitimate websites, only to close down after a few months.

Try whois

How to Find a Scammer By Image With Social Catfish

Social Catfish is one of the most popular people search engines on the internet. It’s a helpful tool for verifying a person’s identity using a reverse image search.

Reverse image search is a web-based tool that allows users to find similar or related images on the internet by uploading an image or providing its URL. It helps identify the source, find visually similar images, and locate information associated with the image.

Which Type of Scam it Helps With:

• online dating scams;
• military romance scams;
• inheritance scams.

User Experience:

I uploaded an image on Social Catfish, and it searched for similar images on all major social media sites, online dating sites, forums, and Google images. Social Catfish compiled all publicly available results and gave me an accurate report.

The report consisted of the source of the image. It accesses YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Plenty of Fish, Match, Tinder, Reddit, and Google Images. I checked an image’s authenticity to ensure it was not stolen from another website. This website had no free plan, since I needed to pay for a 3-day trial that cost $6.87. A monthly subscription costs $28.97 for unlimited reverse image searches.

I liked Social Catfish since it kept a history of my searches, and I could find more information about a person when it became available. In addition, I accessed the members-only Facebook account, which helped me get insight into a person and whether they were a scammer.

After experimenting with Social Catfish, I think it’s the best site for tracking a scammer using fake images to carry out their scam.

Try socialcatfish

How to Track a Scammer on WhatsApp

If someone on WhatsApp has scammed you, it can be difficult to track them down, since they usually use fake numbers. However, if they are using their real number, you can use a reverse search engine like TruthFinder to find out their name, address, and other details.

If a scammer has their picture in WhatsApp, you can try reverse image lookup.

1. Download the Image: Save the image from the WhatsApp conversation to your device. You can often do this by tapping and holding the image until the option to save it appears.
2. Open Google Images: Open your web browser and go to the Google Images website (images.google.com).
3. Upload the Image: Click on the camera icon in the search bar. This allows you to either upload the image directly or paste the URL of the image. Choose the option to upload the image.
4. Select the Image File: Choose the saved image from your device to upload it to Google Images.
5. View Search Results: Google will then search for similar images on the web and display the results. This can help you identify if the image has been used elsewhere on the internet, potentially providing more information about the person or revealing if it’s a commonly used or stock image.

Also remember that you can block the person on WhatsApp and report them to WhatsApp using the “Report” or “Block” feature.

Conclusion

However, it’s crucial to remember that these services are not comprehensive solutions to scam investigations. Once you have gathered the necessary information, leaving the investigation to professionals, such as law enforcement agencies or private investigators, is best. They possess the expertise and resources to pursue the scammers effectively, ensuring that justice is served and preventing further harm to others.