Report it yourself. It's free.
Everything on this page costs nothing and you do not need us to do any of it. If you only read one page on this site, read this one — and read it before you pay anybody, including us.
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Call your bank, then get it in writing
Use the number printed on your card or your bank's official app — not a number given to you by whoever contacted you. Ask them to attempt a recall of the payment, to note the exact date and time you reported it, and to give you a reference number. Card and transfer disputes have deadlines, and the reported date is what those deadlines run from.
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Secure your accounts
Change passwords for your email first, then banking, then everything that shares that password. Turn on two-factor authentication. If you installed any remote-access or "support" software during the incident, remove it and have the device checked before you log back into anything financial.
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File an official report
Report to the police and to your country's fraud reporting body. This creates the official record that banks, regulators and insurers ask for, and it feeds the intelligence that gets networks shut down. The list below is a starting point — confirm the correct body for where you live.
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Write the timeline down now
Dates, amounts, account numbers, wallet addresses, transaction IDs, phone numbers, usernames, website addresses, and how each contact was made. Do this while it is fresh. Screenshot conversations before accounts are deleted — they often are, within days.
Where to report
Official reporting bodies
These are the channels we point clients toward most often. Reporting requirements and agency names change from time to time, so it's worth confirming the current one for your country before you file.
- United States
- FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center — ic3.gov
Federal Trade Commission — reportfraud.ftc.gov - United Kingdom
- Action Fraud — actionfraud.police.uk
In Scotland, report to Police Scotland on 101. - Canada
- Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre — antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca
- Australia
- Scamwatch — scamwatch.gov.au
ReportCyber — cyber.gov.au - Nigeria
- Economic and Financial Crimes Commission — efcc.gov.ng
Also report to your bank's fraud desk and the Nigeria Police Force. - Elsewhere
- Most countries have a national cybercrime or consumer-protection agency that takes online reports — search "report online fraud" together with your country's name, or ask your local police force for the right unit.
If the fraud involved an investment platform or a firm claiming to be regulated, also report it to the financial regulator in that jurisdiction. Regulators publish warning lists, and a cloned-firm report can stop the next person.
Second-wave fraud
How to recognise a recovery scam
Being defrauded once makes you a target for being defrauded again. Contact details of victims circulate, and follow-up approaches offering to recover the lost money are among the most common frauds there are. Apply this list to us as rigorously as to anyone else.
- They contacted you. Unsolicited calls, emails, WhatsApp or social messages offering recovery are the single strongest warning sign.
- They guarantee results. No investigator, lawyer or agency can guarantee recovery. Nobody.
- They want a fee to release your funds. A "tax", "clearance charge", "commission" or "deposit" needed before recovered money can be sent to you is always fraudulent.
- They want payment in crypto or gift cards. Legitimate firms invoice and are paid through traceable channels.
- They claim to be from a government agency. Agencies do not charge for fraud recovery and do not cold-call offering it.
- They press you to decide today. Manufactured urgency is a tool for stopping you from checking.
- They ask for remote access, passwords or seed phrases. No legitimate investigation ever needs these.
- You cannot verify them. No registered company, no licence number, no verifiable address, no named people.
Before you engage any firm, including this one
Look the company up in the official companies register for its stated country. Check any licence number directly on the regulator's website rather than through a link the firm sent you. Ask for the fee structure in writing. Then wait a day before deciding — a legitimate firm will still be there tomorrow.
Support
The part nobody mentions
Fraud is not only a financial event. Shame, insomnia, and a reluctance to tell family are the normal response, not a personal failing — these schemes are built by people who do this professionally, and they work on careful, intelligent people every day.
Victim support services exist in most countries, they are free, and they are worth using. In the UK, Victim Support (victimsupport.org.uk) offers free, confidential help to anyone affected by crime, including fraud. In the US, the Identity Theft Resource Center (idtheftcenter.org) provides free one-to-one support. If you are struggling badly, please talk to your doctor or a local crisis line.