Evidence first: Why your screenshots matter more than your story
Maya noticed a strange message in her banking app one evening. A buyer from an online marketplace said they had sent her a deposit, but the money was “on hold” until she paid a small release fee.
It sounded odd, but the message used her bank’s logo and the email address looked close enough. She sent the fee. When nothing arrived, she realised it was a scam.
Panicked, she called her bank and said, “I was scammed, please reverse it.” The bank asked for screenshots of the messages, the email headers, and the listing link. Maya had deleted everything. All she could say was, “I just know it was a scam.”
The answer she got back was short and cold: “We are unable to proceed without supporting evidence.”
This is the reality for thousands of people every year. Your story may be true, but without evidence, banks, card companies, and platforms often cannot act.
Why evidence wins
Fraud is not rare. It is routine.
Recent summaries of Federal Trade Commission data show that in 2023, consumers reported more than $10 billion in losses to fraud, a record high. Bank transfers and cryptocurrency are among the worst for median loss, because once the money moves, it is very hard to pull back.
When that much money is at stake, banks and platforms need more than a feeling or a hunch. They need something they can file, review, and, if required, pass to their investigations team or law enforcement. That “something” is evidence.
When you report a scam, the person reading your case is usually looking for three things:
- What exactly happened – a clear timeline of events.
- Who was involved – names, usernames, phone numbers, emails, and account details.
- Proof that backs up your story – screenshots, messages, payment records, and links.
If you provide those pieces up front, your case looks very different from the thousands of vague reports that say only, “I was scammed, please help.”
What counts as “good evidence”
You do not need to be a lawyer or an investigator to collect useful evidence. You only need to capture what you already see, in a way that another person can verify.
Strong evidence can include:
- Screenshots of messages and emails – show the full conversation, including dates, times, and usernames. Try to capture the sender’s profile or email address in at least one screenshot.
- Email headers – for suspicious emails that claim to be from a bank, government, or company. Headers show the real sending address and route. Many providers have a “view original” or “view headers” option.
- Transaction records – bank statements, card statements, PayPal or other payment platform records showing the exact amounts, dates, and reference numbers.
- Invoices and receipts – anything that shows what you believed you were paying for.
- Platform links – links to marketplace listings, social media profiles, job posts, or websites that were part of the scam.
- Contact details for the scammer – phone numbers, email addresses, usernames, and website URLs.
- Delivery or tracking information – tracking numbers, shipping confirmations, or proof that nothing was delivered.
- Notes about calls – if someone called you pretending to be “customer support” or “fraud prevention,” write down the number, the time, and exactly what they said.
The goal is simple: if a stranger looked at your file with no context, could they follow what happened and see why it is suspicious?
Evidence checklist before you contact your bank
When something feels wrong, it is very tempting to react fast and clean everything up. People delete messages, close chats, even wipe accounts because they feel ashamed or afraid.
Instead, pause for a moment and move into evidence mode. Use this quick checklist before you contact your bank, card issuer, or a platform:
- Stop sending money or information. Do not reply, do not send another payment “to fix it,” and do not share more personal details.
- Take full-screen screenshots. Capture the whole screen, including time, date, and web address or app name. Scroll and take multiple shots if needed.
- Download or save statements. Export your recent bank, card, or PayPal transactions as PDFs or screenshots, especially those linked to the scam.
- Copy key details into a note. Names, usernames, phone numbers, email addresses, website URLs, and any reference numbers.
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Write a simple timeline. For example:
- Monday 3:15 pm – Received first message on marketplace.
- Monday 3:40 pm – Sent payment via e-transfer.
- Tuesday 10:05 am – Realised it was a scam when…
- Check what your bank or card issuer asks for. Many institutions list required information on their fraud or dispute pages. Match your evidence to that list before you call.
- Then report it. Contact your bank or card issuer, and also report to your national fraud centre or consumer agency. In the United States, that includes the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
Doing this first means you talk to your bank with a clear story plus documents, instead of trying to remember everything while you are upset.
How the Scam Repellent Toolkit helps you stay ready
Most people try to collect evidence after the fact, when they are already shaken and scrambling. The Scam Repellent Toolkit is designed to make “evidence mode” automatic.
Inside the Toolkit, you will find:
- Evidence Timeline Worksheet – a guided page where you plug in dates, times, and actions in order. This mirrors what banks and investigators look for when they examine a case.
- Platform Report Notes – a template for what to include when you report a scam to a marketplace, social network, or payment app, so that your report is clear and hard to ignore.
- Bank or Card Dispute Summary – a one-page summary that helps you present your case to your bank or card company in the same structured way their internal forms are organised.
Instead of starting with “I was scammed, please help,” you will be able to say:
- “Here is my timeline.”
- “Here are the screenshots and transaction records.”
- “Here are the scammer’s contact details and links.”
That shift from panic to prepared is often the difference between a quick rejection and a serious review.
Scams move fast. Your best defence is to move into evidence mode just as quickly. The more clearly you can show what happened, the more tools your bank, card issuer, or platform has to work with.
The Scam Repellent Toolkit does not promise miracles, and it cannot force any institution to say yes. What it does is give you a stronger, clearer case on day one instead of day thirty.
That way, the next time something feels off, you can skip the panic and go straight into evidence mode.
Sources we reviewed for this article
These resources inform the approach in this post and give you further reading if you want to go deeper:
- News articles summarising Federal Trade Commission 2023 data on consumer fraud losses showing over $10 billion reported lost, with details on common scam types and contact methods. Read a 2023 fraud loss summary .
- The FTC’s reporting portal at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, which centralises fraud reports for use by law enforcement and regulators.
- FTC consumer advice on what to do if you were scammed, including what information to gather and how to report: What to do if you were scammed .