Untold Truth Part 1: Catch Me as I Fall

This post is Part 1 in the Untold Truth series on "Catch Me As I Fall: Rising from the Wreckage", my upcoming book about the hidden cost of cybercrime. In Part 1: Catch Me as I Fall, I share what it really means to “fall” when crime collides with shame, silence, and systemic failure. Part 2: Rising from the Wreckage, will explore how rising is possible—even when more shoes keep falling. Beyond these, I’ll continue the conversation on healing through FLOW Journal and FLOW Circle, my advocacy work, and the push for stronger federal and state legislation to protect victims.

THEY CALL IT FALLING FOR A SCAM . . . 

As if the story begins and ends with a single mistake. As if it’s about gullibility, foolishness, or some failure in judgment. And yet, that’s not the fall I remember.

Let’s be clear: cyber fraud is not a fluke

It’s a trillion-dollar global theft, executed by transnational organized criminals. In 2024 alone, $16.6 billion has been reported to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center . . . and that’s only what’s been documented.

Behind every dollar is a life disrupted, trust shattered, silence deepened.

These criminals target all ages, across every demographic, using tactics as varied as sextortion, romance fraud, financial investment fraud, impersonation schemes, and beyond.

The real fall came after.

After the deception was revealed, bank accounts drained and messages went silent. After the headlines and whispers turned me into a punchline.

“Falling for” is the world’s shorthand. It implies I should have known better, done better, been better.

But the fall is something else entirely.

The Unseen Fall

The fall is what happens when you search for justice and find systems unprepared, unwilling, or unable.

The fall is what happens when you reach out for help and find shame staring back at you.

And the fall is what happens when silence feels safer than speaking, because the blame weighs heavier than the crime itself.

Local law enforcement—the first line of defense—rarely has the resources, training, or jurisdiction to investigate crimes that cross borders in seconds. Too often, the answer is: there’s nothing we can do. Victims are referred to websites, forms, acronyms that blur together—IC3, FTC, FBI—but no one explains what happens after you file. Too often, the answer is nothing.

Meanwhile, the public is quick to assign blame. Why didn’t you see it coming? Why didn’t you stop? The crime itself becomes overshadowed by the assumption of complicity. Imagine being robbed and then told you invited the thief in—that’s what victims of cyber fraud face every day.

More Shoes Keep Falling

The fall isn’t a single drop. It’s the steady collapse of shoes hitting the floor, one after another:

Mental health care that isn’t trauma informed. Survivors enter therapy only to discover their therapists have no training in financial betrayal or cyber-enabled manipulation. Some minimize it. Some suggest “moving on.” But you can’t “move on” when the ground itself gave way.

Financial devastation without restitution. Most victims never recover their money. Insurance isn’t there for restitution rarely. Federal tax law makes theft a different category, adding insult to injury requiring taxes paid on money stolen from retirement accounts.

Family and friends who don’t understand. Sometimes they withdraw or judge. Sometimes they say nothing at all. Each silence becomes another layer of loss.

This is the fall: not the moment of deception, but the long descent into systems that don’t catch you and communities that don’t know how.

Why Tell This Story

I didn’t write Catch Me As I Fall: Rising from the Wreckage to rehash every detail of how I was deceived. That’s the story in Encrypted Hearts: Love and Cyber Suspense. I wrote it because the deeper story . . . the part few people see . . . is how the fall keeps happening long after the crime ends. And how, in spite of everything, rising remains possible.

By sharing my story, I’m also naming the truth for others who feel invisible. Cyber fraud is not an individual failure, it’s a trillion-dollar crisis. Victims deserve more than blame. They deserve justice, support, and the dignity of being believed.

Closing

That’s the story Part 1 of this series begins to tell: the fall that no one warns you about.

In Part 2—Rising from the Wreckage—I’ll share what rising looks like, even when more shoes keep falling, and how reclaiming voice and power is possible inside the ruins.

Because the truth is this: the fall is devastating. And yet, it isn’t the end.

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Debbie's Publications Available Worldwide Online
📘 Encrypted Hearts: Love and Cyber Suspense
📔 FLOW Journal: A Companion for Healing and Renewal
📗 Catch Me As I Fall (Fall 2025)
📙 100 Truth Bombs for Outsmarting Modern Fraud 

To explore blogs, TV interviews, published articles, past speaking engagements—or to book me for an event—visit my advocacy page:
👉 Advocacy webpage

To every survivor who speaks up... whether in a podcast, on a page, through art, or in quiet conversations... you are helping to rewrite the narrative.

You are not alone.

Debbie Fox

THANK YOU for reading to the end!
May the stories of these courageous survivors remind us that healing is possible, voices matter, and collective courage creates change.

If this moved you, please . . . Share it. Speak about it. Support a survivor.
Because awareness starts with each of us, and empathy carries it forward.