Welcome to the Beginning of Your Journey

This is the way! This is the path to After-Scam Healing™ & Recovery.
We are a Trauma-Informed Recoverology™ Service Provider.
We Provide Emotional & Psychological Services to Scam Victims/Survivors
Always Free, Safe, and Confidential.

Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams Inc.

Welcome to the SCARS Institute™, the Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams™ Inc. We are a global nonprofit organization that provides services that assist, support, educate, and advocate for victims of cyber-enabled crimes, particularly those targeted by relationship scams. The SCARS Institute focuses on psychological after-scam healing and recovery, and on helping to educate scam victims while working to detect, deter, and ultimately eliminate online scams in all forms.

SCARS also stands for the Scientific Center for Analysis and Research into Scams™, and is dedicated to applying Recoverology™ to studying the psychology, neurology, thanatology, anthropology, sociology, victimology, criminology, and allied sciences through the lens of scam-related psychological trauma and grief. The organization is committed to understanding what scam victims experience, how these crimes unfold, and what effective healing and recovery services are truly required.

The primary mission of the SCARS Institute is to help scam victims heal and recover from the trauma of these crimes and reduce their risk of being victimized again. The organization also educates the public about cyber-enabled crimes, including socially engineered scams, to prevent further harm.

Founded in 2015 by an international team of professionals, the SCARS Institute continues to be led by individuals who understand the realities of scam victimization. Many of them have experienced it personally. The SCARS Institute exists to help victims become survivors. Prof. Emeritus Tim McGuinness, Ph.D. DFin. is our Chairman and Managing Director.

We invite all scam survivors, their families, and advocates and professionals to enroll in our free courses, including our free Scam Survivor’s School at www.SCARSeducation.org

We also invite call scam victims/survivors to join our free, safe, and private Scam Survivors’ Community to receive free psychological counseling/coaching, therapy referrals, and extensive support and education by our team of professionals. Just visit www.SCARScommunity.org/register to sign up.

SCARS Institute - 12 Years of Service

Why was the SCARS Institute created?

Scam victims were not receiving the right message in time to avoid being defrauded. After the scam, many turned to the wrong sources for support, which prevented them from recovering successfully from the trauma. A new professional approach was required, based on methods that have consistently worked in other areas of victim recovery.

There was a need for professionalization, structure, occupational standards, and a deep understanding of the relationship scam experience. The response had to move beyond the rage, amateurism, and vigilantism that were too common among informal groups. Scam victims needed reliable support grounded in science, experience, and ethical standards. Society needed a credible voice to speak out against cyber-enabled online fraud. The SCARS Institute was created to provide that voice and to help victims recover, rebuild, and protect themselves from future harm.

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“Helping Victims Of Online Crime
Is The Core Of What We Do!”
SCARS Institute
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Welcome To Our Society! Welcome to the SCARS Institute™

The Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams Inc., operating as the SCARS Institute, is a nonprofit crime victims’ assistance organization based in Miami, Florida, United States. Established in 2015, the organization draws upon nearly 30 years of experience addressing socially engineered, cyber-enabled crime, offender manipulation, and the needs of scam victims.

The SCARS Institute provides RECOVEROLOGY™ psychological services and trauma-informed psychological care for victims of relationship scams, financial fraud, and related cybercrime. Its education-centered After-Scam Healing and Structured Recovery programs help victims understand manipulation, traumatic stress, grief, shame, self-blame, damaged trust, and the practical consequences of victimization. Services include supportive counseling, recovery guidance, educational programs, health information, peer-support resources, and professional referrals when additional care is required.

The organization also conducts research, publishes educational materials, trains victim advocates and other professionals, and supports public awareness, scam prevention, and policy reform. Through the science of RECOVEROLOGY™, the SCARS Institute integrates victim assistance, psychological care, education, and practical recovery support into a structured approach designed to help scam victims stabilize, learn, heal, rebuild confidence, and move forward with safety and independence.

The SCARS Institute Professional Advocate’s Creed

Victim advocacy & support professionals such as the SCARS Institute and our Team, empower crime survivors through ethical practice, informed support, professional services, and an unwavering commitment to safety, healing, justice, dignity, autonomy, and victims’ rights. Their work requires compassion, competence, accountability, confidentiality, cultural awareness, and respect for each survivor’s choices and lived experience. These shared values unite professionals across disciplines and establish clear standards for responsible, trauma-informed advocacy. They also ensure that every victim receives accurate information, meaningful support, and opportunities to reclaim control after victimization. SCARS Institute embraces these principles as the foundation of every program, service, partnership, educational initiative, and advocacy effort, placing the needs and well-being of crime victims at the center of its mission.

Learn more here!

We Focus on Relationship Scams

The Society focuses on victims of trust-based scams, fraud, and cybercrime, with particular attention to relationship scams, called romance, dating, love, or sweetheart scams, and cryptocurrency-based investment fraud. Its work also addresses related criminal attacks against individuals, families, and businesses, including phishing, impersonation, account compromise, identity theft, and business email compromise schemes.

Fraudsters target adults of every age, especially older adults, while increasingly directing attacks toward children, teenagers, and young adults. These criminals exploit people across every race, culture, gender, education level, and economic background. They also weaponize racism, gender bias, loneliness, grief, financial need, and social isolation to create vulnerability and strengthen manipulation.

These offenders rarely operate as isolated individuals. Many work within large-scale transnational criminal enterprises supported by recruiters, money launderers, technology specialists, account suppliers, and trafficking networks. Certain criminal organizations employ thousands of people and direct proceeds toward illicit activities. Some networks also provide financial or operational support to terrorist organizations, including ISIS, Al Qaeda, Boko Haram, Hamas, and others. Current estimates place the worldwide population of professional scammers well above three million.

Our Focus is on After-Scam Healing & Recovery

The Society directs its primary efforts toward professional crime victim assistance and support for scam victims through education-centered After-Scam Healing and Recovery programs, including psychological support through counseling/coaching. These services help victims understand manipulation, trauma responses, grief, shame, self-blame, damaged trust, and the practical consequences of victimization. Education gives survivors the knowledge, language, skills, and structured practices needed to stabilize their lives, process what happened, rebuild confidence, strengthen boundaries, and participate actively in long-term recovery.

Beyond direct victim services, the organization leads global advocacy initiatives and works with governments, law enforcement agencies, financial institutions, technology companies, and other stakeholders to improve victim recognition, strengthen legal protections, and support more effective enforcement. Its research, analysis, training, and publishing activities expand public understanding of scam crimes, offender methods, trauma-informed victim care, and online safety. The Society also provides professional education and development for advocates, counselors, law enforcement personnel, and other victim-serving professionals.

Scams represent a global threat requiring trauma-informed, coordinated, and professional solutions. The SCARS Institute delivers those solutions through education, research, advocacy, victim support, psychological services, and a commitment to ethical After-Scam Healing.

SCARS - Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams Inc. - Official SCARS Corporate Website

SCARS Institute™

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Years of Service to Scam Victims & Survivors

SCARS Institute™ is the Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams Inc. helping to build a world without online crime. But we need your help! Volunteer to help SCARS help other scam victims!

Always look for the SCARS Seal as your assurance of professionalism, ethics, and integrity in assisting victims of financial fraud and online crime.

U.S. State of Florida Nonprofit Charitable Registration #N20000011978 [SCARS DBA Registered #G20000137918 // Scam Survivors United DBA Registered #G23000086919] – Click Here To Confirm  Previously incorporated in the State of Delaware.

Address Of Record: Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams Inc., 9561 Fontainebleau Blvd., Suite 602, Miami, Florida 33166 U.S.A.

Please help everyone by reporting all scammers – reporting.AgainstScams.org