Reloading scam

In a reloading scam, a victim is repeatedly approached by con artists, often until "sucked dry". This form of fraud is perpetrated on those more susceptible to pressure after the first losses, perhaps because of hopes to recover money previously invested, perhaps because of inability to say "no" to a con man.

The term has been current at least since 1923, when it was used to describe a specific repetitive stock fraud:

The term 'reloading' has since expanded to cover all repeated attempts to scam money from the same victim.

This form is widespread because people who become victims of, for example, a telemarketing fraud, often are placed on a sucker list. Sucker lists, which include names, addresses, phone numbers and other information, are created, bought and sold by some fraudulent telemarketers. They are considered invaluable because dishonest promoters know that consumers who have been tricked once are likely to be tricked again.

How the scam works

Double scammers, known as reloaders, use several methods to repeatedly victimize consumers. For example, if they have lost money to a fraudulent telemarketing scheme, they may get a call from someone claiming to work for a government agency, private company or consumer organization that could recover their lost money, product or prize—for a fee. The catch is that the second caller is often as phony as the first and may even work for the company that took their money in the first place. If they pay the recovery fee, they have been double-scammed.