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Published on 02 October 2014

Have you ever tried reporting a scam to the company whose name and resources the scammer was using? It can be frustrating at best and ineffective at worst.

As a result of such situations, scammers are having a field day ripping off consumers of all ages whether it’s perpetrated by phone, email or a text. It’s time for customer service to be extended to address more of the scammer epidemic.

No Laughing Matter

While countless people thought the movie Identity Thief was hilarious, the damage that can be done when private information falls into the wrong hands, or when the process just to report a scam approaches maddening, is pretty far from funny.

Yes, you can report scams to the local police, the IRS, the FBI, your credit card issuer, your bank and even the Better Business Bureau. And you can google scams to see what people are reporting and sharing online.

But, what seems to be lacking at first glance is a one-stop destination and streamlined process not just to report scams but to have them investigated so they don't spread like a virus to others.

And those are just the ones that we can identify as likely scams without any assistance.

Policing – and Serving

I credit my town's police department for using reverse 911 systems to alert residents to scams – perhaps the best use of robocalling. They also ask that potential victims call them directly. Having not experienced one, I don't know where the tracking goes from there.

If I made/sold reverse 911 systems, I would be pitching them to the police department of every town in the U.S. They obviously have other applications in public safety, missing person alerts, voting reminders, etc.

But I was unpleasantly shocked when I called my wireless provider to report what I believed to be a scam by a party masquerading as them. This is a company that often uses texts to communicate with me and likely others. Here's what irked me.

No Option, No Interest?

I called customer service and naturally was greeted by an automated attendant system that had plenty of options for keys to press, including one to hit for lost/stolen phones, but nothing to specifically report a scam/concern about identity theft/or even fraud.

After dancing around with a well-meaning agent, I was put on extended hold as I was eventually connected to someone in the fraud department who only wanted to be sure there were no unauthorized goods or services on my account. That's helpful and routine but misses the bigger point.

The fraud rep at the carrier had zero interest in hearing about how the scam was carried out or about learning any details that could aid in an investigation or warning to its customers. I was told this unit doesn't investigate these situations and eventually gave me a resource for filing a report that when asked where I would find that info otherwise replied: "I don't know."

If it was listed on the monthly invoice, which is almost buried in sales pitches and offers, which would be helpful. If there was a menu option at the very beginning of the call to customer service, that would be more helpful. But the company appears not to be interested enough in scam specifics, even though scams are rampant and the rep told me of one other that was making the round unbeknownst to me.

I understand that it's standard procedure to contact any bank and/or credit card issuer of yours that a hacker might go to town on, but even that still begs the question of who is actually doing any scam data collection and investigation.

And with retail giants regularly getting hacked – Target, Home Depot, TJX, etc. – isn't awareness of the problem of customer data loss at a high enough level to more aggressively address this fast-growing and far-reaching epidemic?

An Idealistic Solution

I'm now putting my idealist hat on and wondering why there isn't a national repository for scam (not necessarily hack) reporting and incident collection – one which could be used to alert consumers to scams in progress and perhaps even educate them on what types of trolls to avoid.

My town police department has taken it upon itself to periodically alert residents to hacks via robocall, aware that still more people have a "home" phone than have Internet access and a lead to research. (See countless reports of hackers targeting elderly by phone stories everywhere).

The media could help by running a daily/weekly segment drawing attention to the latest scams, perhaps instead of spending forever on the weather, celebrity misbehavior and cool videos from the web. But don't hold your breath as they only report on gigantic retail chain breaches believing that that is plenty of news/and public service on a topic that potentially affects us all.

Getting the Word Out

We collectively have to think beyond fraud. Collecting data on and investigating scams should be a high priority, not just one left to the FBI and law enforcement. Credit and bank card companies can react quickly to reported and proactively identified unauthorized activity, which is great, but informing the public of scams enroute to catching and nailing scammers is best possible outcome I see.

Every scam that isn't revealed to the consumer masses lives longer than it should, and therefore does more damage – damage that could possibly have been minimized or better yet prevented.

Scammers are evolving, so our methods for addressing their existence and threat need to advance as well. As a consumer, I believe this should come under the heading of customer service and support. What current aspect of customer service is more important at the end of the day?

I'm taking my idealist hat off now, and stepping down from my soap box.

Proceed with caution, skepticism and a little hope.

P.S. – And instead of emailing me that my wireless bill is ready to view online, try emailing me about scams making the rounds. That information is of far greater value. Seriously.