Scammed in Crypto? What to Do Next

Introduction

If you have just realised that a crypto payment, a bank transfer or a wallet signature went to a scammer, this page is for the next hour, the next day and the weeks after. The first hours after a loss are when it can get worse: a "release fee" paid, one more request signed, or a caller a week later offering to get the money back.

The order is simple. Stop further losses first: stop sending, stop signing and cut contact. Keep the evidence second, before chats are deleted and websites go offline. Report third, to the body for where you live, and keep the reference number. Then expect a second approach, and treat it as a second scam. Each step has its own section below, with a reporting table for the UK, the US and the EU.

One thing on this page matters more than the rest. Reporting is not recovery, and a stranger who offers to get your money back for a fee is not an exception to that rule. No page can promise the money back, and the section on what is realistic follows one dated case to show what its victims could and could not expect.

Every sentence that reports what a regulator, police force, company or court says names that source and the date it was published or read, and every sentence about a reporting body names the place it serves. Routes differ between countries and, inside the UK, between Scotland and the rest. Every claim on this page that reports a figure, a date or what a body says was checked against that body's own page, or a copy of its document, on 5 October 2026.

This page is one of a set. Our crypto scam protection guide covers the three questions to ask before you send or sign anything, and is the place to start if you want to stop a scam rather than recover from one. If your loss came at the end of a long online friendship that turned into an investment pitch, our guide to pig butchering scams explains how that con runs, stage by stage.

If you are reading this for someone else, a parent, a partner or a friend, the same order applies. The first thing to agree with them is that nothing more gets sent while you check. Then offer to sit with them while they call the bank, and to keep the timeline together.

A Scam Is Not a Platform Failure

Start by naming what happened, because a scam and a platform failure call for different steps. In a scam, the business was never real or never meant to pay you: a fake trading site, an impersonated support desk, or a stranger who persuaded you to send crypto or sign a request. In a platform failure, a real exchange or lender stopped paying out or went into insolvency, and the questions are about who holds the assets and how claims are paid. If a real business failed, our guide to crypto platform failure and recovery covers that process instead. If you are not yet sure whether the platform you used was genuine, our guide to verifying a crypto platform shows how to check a register entry before you send anything more.

The First Hour: Stop the Losses

The first hour is for stopping further losses, not for getting the money back. Work down the list, skip the steps that do not match how your money left, and do not let anyone hurry you past the first one.

• 1. Stop sending and stop signing. Pay nothing more, whatever fee or tax is said to release your balance, and approve nothing more in your wallet.
• 2. Cut contact without warning the scammer. Do not argue or announce that you are reporting them. Block them, but keep every message.
• 3. If money left your bank account or card, call your bank now. Use the number on your card or statement, not one from a message, and ask for the payment to be stopped, recalled or refunded.
• 4. If a self-custody wallet was involved, protect what is left. Revoke token and NFT approvals you did not mean to give, using the routine in our transaction signing hygiene guide. If you typed or shared your recovery phrase anywhere, move what remains to a new wallet created on a clean device.
• 5. Tell the exchange or ATM operator the money left from. Report the transaction as fraud through the support channel in its own app or website.
• 6. If you are in danger, or a crime is happening now, call the police. In the UK, Report Fraud and Police Scotland both give that number as 999 (pages read on 5 October 2026).

In the US, the FBI described on 20 July 2026 a victim who told scammers they would report them to the FBI, and was then contacted by a fake FBI agent with a link to "update" the complaint. Say nothing about your plans; just stop replying.

If money left your bank account or card

In the UK, the FCA tells anyone who has paid scammers, or given them personal information, to tell their bank immediately using the contact details on their card or statements (guidance last updated 19 January 2026).

In the US, the FBI's 2025 Internet Crime Report, released on 6 April 2026, says time is of the essence after a fraudulent transfer, and tells you to contact your financial institution immediately to request a recall.

If a wallet was involved: revoke, then move what is left

If you connected a wallet to a dApp or signed a request you did not understand, an approval may still let a smart contract controlled by someone else move your tokens. Revoke it before you do anything else in that wallet. A revoke is a transaction, so it needs a signature and a gas fee, and it stops future spending without returning what has already left. Our signing hygiene guide walks through the tool, and explains how off-chain permits differ from on-chain approvals.

If you typed or shared your recovery phrase anywhere, treat the whole wallet as compromised, because the phrase controls every account the wallet creates and revoking approvals cannot help. Move what remains to a new wallet created on a clean device, with a new phrase written down offline. How drainers and phishing sites obtain a signature or a phrase in the first place is covered in our wallet drainer and phishing defence guide.

Tell the exchange or ATM operator

In the US, the FTC tells anyone who paid a scammer in cryptocurrency to contact the exchange or crypto ATM operator immediately, report the transaction as fraudulent and ask for a reversal and a refund (guidance last modified 21 August 2026).

Never use a number, a link or a "support agent" that reached you through the scam. Ask the exchange to record your report and to say what it can and cannot do about a transfer that has already left. In the US, the FTC warns that cryptocurrency payments typically are not reversible once they are sent (guidance last modified 10 February 2025).

Keep the Evidence

Evidence disappears quickly after a scam: chats are deleted and fake websites go offline. Save everything on the first day, including the messages you would rather not show anyone.

What to save

• Transactions. Each transaction ID, the address you sent to, the date, the amount and the asset, plus any bank transfer details and the receipts from the exchange or crypto ATM you used.
• The scam's footprint. Website addresses, app names, usernames, profile names, phone numbers and email addresses, with screenshots of the platform's dashboard showing your "balance".
• Conversations. Full chat exports, emails and texts, plus recordings or notes of any calls or video calls.
• Your own reports. Every crime reference number, and a saved copy of each report you file.

In the US, the FBI asked on 20 July 2026 that complaints to the IC3 include the date, type and amount of each payment, the receiving institution and the receiving cryptocurrency addresses, along with how contact began. In the US, the IC3 says it does not collect evidence or accept attachments, so you must keep original documents somewhere secure (FAQ read on 5 October 2026). In the US, the IC3 also says it will not send you a copy of your complaint, so save or print it when you file (FAQ read on 5 October 2026).

In the UK, the Financial Ombudsman Service advises keeping records of all contact with the scammer, which will help when you ask your bank to reimburse you or bring a complaint (page read on 5 October 2026).

Write the timeline down

Write down what happened while you still remember it, in date order: the first contact, each conversation that changed something, each payment and each new person who joined. A timeline turns a folder of screenshots into a story someone else can follow, and it helps you see the second approach for what it is when it arrives. Keep these records for your tax return as well: whether a scam loss counts for tax depends on where you live, and our crypto tax guide covers the records to keep and the general rules by jurisdiction.

What a tracing report can and cannot do

A public blockchain keeps a permanent record of each transfer between addresses, so a crypto payment can be followed from the address you paid to the addresses it moved to next. A blockchain tracing report built from that record can be useful evidence for the police, an exchange or a court. On its own, it does not name the person who controls an address, and it moves no money.

A US court showed the limit of a claim that stops at resemblance.

• In an order of 25 September 2026 in the Prince Group bitcoin forfeiture case, the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York said that a scam matching the pig butchering pattern, with a link to South-East Asia, did not appear to be a Prince Group signature, and found no plausible basis for tracing that victim's loss into the seized wallets.
• The US court's order of 25 September 2026 in the Prince Group case also found that an investigator's unexplained belief that the money was part of the seizure did not make the victim's tracing claim plausible.
• In its order of 25 September 2026 in the Prince Group case, the US court said that to contest the forfeiture a victim needed tracing: facts showing that the seized wallets held their own funds, or assets derived from them.

Anyone who contacts you offering to run that tracing for a fee fits the recovery-scam pattern described below.

Where to Report: The Table by Jurisdiction

Report to the body for where you live, not for where the scammer said they were. A report creates a record that your bank or a court may ask about later, and it helps police and regulators see a pattern. It does not bring money back, and the table says what each body does not do.

England, Wales and Northern Ireland: Report Fraud

• In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, fraud and cyber crime are reported to Report Fraud, a City of London Police service that replaced Action Fraud on 4 December 2025, according to a GOV.UK news story published by the Serious Fraud Office that day.
• In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, Report Fraud kept Action Fraud's number, 0300 123 2040, and traffic to the old Action Fraud website was to be redirected to it, according to the GOV.UK story of 4 December 2025.
• In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, Report Fraud says that everyone who reports receives a police crime reference number, that reports go to Report Fraud Analysis Services for assessment, and that Report Fraud does not investigate cases or advise on their progress (page read on 5 October 2026).
• In England and Wales, Report Fraud points fraud victims to Victim Support, a national charity that offers free and confidential support on 0808 1689 111 (pages read on 5 October 2026).

Scotland: Police Scotland

• In Scotland, report a crypto scam to Police Scotland, which takes non-emergency reports by phone on 101, online or in person (page read on 5 October 2026).
• In Scotland, Police Scotland asks you to call 999 if someone is in danger or the incident is happening now (page read on 5 October 2026).
• Report Fraud's own FAQ, read on 5 October 2026, says Police Scotland has not signed up to the Report Fraud process, and that people in Scotland should report directly to Police Scotland on 101.

The FCA, after the police report

• In the UK, the FCA asks anyone who has lost money to a scam to contact Report Fraud, or Police Scotland on 101 if they live in Scotland, and then to report the scam to the FCA (guidance last updated 19 January 2026).
• In the UK, the FCA says it cannot help you get your money back, but that it looks into every report it receives and that a report could help protect others (guidance last updated 19 January 2026).
• In the UK, the FCA says it can only look into scams that involve financial services it regulates (guidance last updated 19 January 2026).
• In the UK, the FCA takes scam reports by phone on 0800 111 6768 or through its online contact form (crypto investment scams guidance, last updated 16 February 2026).

United States: the IC3, the FTC and the regulators

• In the US, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) describes itself as the central hub for reporting cyber-enabled crime, and says complaints are analysed and may be referred to federal, state, local or international law enforcement (site read on 5 October 2026).
• In the US, the IC3's FAQ says you will not hear from the IC3 after filing, because it does not conduct investigations or give case updates, and that investigation and prosecution are at the discretion of the agencies that receive a complaint (FAQ read on 5 October 2026).
• In the US, the IC3 allows a complaint to be filed on behalf of another person (FAQ read on 5 October 2026).
• In the US, the IC3 received 181,565 complaints involving cryptocurrency in 2025, reporting $11.37 billion in losses, up 22% on 2024, according to the FBI's 2025 Internet Crime Report released on 6 April 2026, which counts every complaint that mentions virtual currency, not only scams.
• In the US, the FTC's crypto guidance lists the CFTC, the SEC, the IC3 and the exchange used to send the money as places to report crypto fraud (guidance last modified 10 February 2025).
• In the US, the CFTC says it does not represent individual victims in fraud recovery efforts (advisory read on 5 October 2026).

European Union: the national police

In the EU, ESMA tells anyone already in contact with fraudsters to stop all interactions, report the case to local law enforcement such as the police, and inform their national competent authority (page read on 5 October 2026). In the EU, ESMA says it is not able to deal with investment fraud cases itself (page read on 5 October 2026). Use the police and the financial regulator of the country you live in.

Banks and Cards: What Reimbursement Covers

If any of the money left a bank account or a card, start with the bank. In the UK, a bank transfer to a scammer can be reimbursed under the Payment Systems Regulator's rules, but crypto bought first in your own name and then sent on falls outside them (PS25/5, May 2025).

UK bank transfers: the reimbursement rules

• In the UK, since 7 October 2024, banks and other payment firms have had to reimburse eligible victims of authorised push payment (APP) scams sent by Faster Payments or CHAPS, up to £85,000 per claim, under the Payment Systems Regulator's rules (PS25/5, May 2025).
• In the UK, a claim under those rules can be refused if it is made more than 13 months after the final payment (PS25/5, May 2025).
• In the UK, the PSR's policy statement says a payment is covered only if, among other tests, it is received into a UK account that the person paying does not control (PS25/5, May 2025).
• In the UK, the same statement lists two exceptions, a consumer who acted fraudulently and one who acted with gross negligence, and says that the gross negligence exception and the optional excess of up to £100 cannot be applied to vulnerable consumers (PS25/5, May 2025).

When the money went to your own exchange account first

In the UK, the PSR's statement says the reimbursement requirement does not apply when a consumer sends money to their own account at a crypto exchange and then pays a fraudster in cryptocurrency (PS25/5, May 2025).

In the UK, the FCA says most crypto-related activities are not regulated, so crypto investors generally cannot complain about the firm to the Financial Ombudsman Service and are not protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme if it fails (guidance last updated 16 February 2026). A complaint about your bank is a different matter, as the next part explains.

If your bank says no

• In the UK, the Financial Ombudsman Service says it cannot help with solving the crime itself, which is a matter for the police, but that it can investigate how your bank or payment service dealt with a fraud or scam (page read on 5 October 2026).
• In the UK, the ombudsman says that if it finds the business treated you unfairly, it will tell the business to put you back where you would be if it had not made a mistake, for example by reimbursing the money lost to the scam (page read on 5 October 2026).
• In the UK, the Financial Ombudsman Service says its service is free (page read on 5 October 2026).
• In the UK, the ombudsman says you should complain to the bank first, that a bank has 15 days to consider a complaint about fraud and scams, and that you can then bring it to the ombudsman if you disagree with the final response or hear nothing in that time, within 6 months of the final response (page read on 5 October 2026).

That is a review of what your bank did, not a claim against the scammer.

US bank transfers and card payments

• In the US, the IC3's Recovery Asset Team works with banks and FBI field offices to freeze fraudulent transfers, and the FBI's 2025 Internet Crime Report says that in 2025 it acted on 3,900 incidents and helped freeze $679 million of $1.16 billion in attempted theft (report released on 6 April 2026).
• In the US, the FBI's report of 6 April 2026 says most incidents in this freezing process used to be business email compromise, with a rise in tech-support and account-takeover cases in 2025; the process works through banks and other financial institutions, so the figure describes bank transfers frozen in time, not crypto returned.
• In the US, the FTC tells anyone tricked into paying a scammer by credit or debit card to report it to the card issuer or bank immediately and ask for a refund (guidance last modified 21 August 2026).

In the US, card payments carry legal protections that crypto payments lack, as the FTC warns (guidance last modified 21 August 2026).

Recovery Scams: The Second Con

After a loss, the next person to contact you may be running a second scam. In the UK, the FCA warns that people who have invested in a scam may be targeted again, including with an offer to get their money back or to buy back the investment after they pay a fee (guidance last updated 16 February 2026).

• In the US, the FBI describes "re-targeting" or "double-dip" scams as schemes in which people posing as law enforcement, banks or cybersecurity firms promise victims of an earlier scam to get their money back, then steal more (warning of 20 July 2026).
• In the UK, the FCA says the people behind the original scam may run the recovery room themselves under a different firm's name, or sell the victim's details to other recovery rooms (guidance last updated 19 January 2026).
• In the US, the FTC warns that scammers buy, sell and trade "sucker lists" of people who have paid scammers, noting the kind of scam and how much they paid (guidance last modified 13 August 2026).
• In the US, the IC3 counted 10,516 recovery-scam complaints involving cryptocurrency in 2025, with $1.4 billion in reported losses, and its 2025 report notes that these losses may include money lost in the earlier scam that led to the recovery contact (report released on 6 April 2026).

If your loss came at the end of a long online relationship, the recovery pitch can be the last stage of the same con; our pig butchering guide sets out the stages before it.

The tells, one sentence each

Each line below is a sign that an offer of help may be the next scam; one is enough to stop and check the caller through contact details you find yourself.

• They contacted you first, offering to recover your money. In the UK, the FCA tells you to be wary of anyone who contacts you out of the blue about recovering money lost to fraud (guidance last updated 19 January 2026).
• They know your loss in detail. In the US, the FBI warned on 13 August 2025 that fake law firms may know the exact amounts and dates of a victim's earlier transfers, and claim the victim is on a government-affiliated list of scam victims.
• They claim an official partnership. In the US, the FBI's warning of 13 August 2025 says that no law firm is an officially authorised partner of a US government agency.
• They name a regulator you cannot find. In the US, the FBI's warning of 13 August 2025 flags references to non-existent bodies, such as an "International Financial Trading Commission", and advises checking that any agency mentioned exists.
• Your money is said to sit at a foreign bank. In the US, the FBI warned on 13 August 2025 that victims are told to open an account at a foreign bank whose website looks legitimate but is part of the fraud.
• A fee comes first, under any name. In the US, the FTC lists "retainer fee", "processing fee", "administrative charge" and "tax" among the names given to the upfront payment (guidance last modified 13 August 2026), and in the UK the FCA describes charges called tax, solicitor or administrative fees (guidance last updated 19 January 2026).
• They want your recovery phrase or private key. In the US, the SEC warns that fraudsters may demand upfront fees or the private key to access crypto assets while claiming to help investors recover losses (Investor.gov, read on 5 October 2026).
• They write from a webmail address. In the UK, the FCA says recovery rooms generally use webmail such as Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail, and that the FCA, the government, law enforcement and law firms never use webmail to contact consumers (guidance last updated 19 January 2026).
• They will not prove who they are on camera. In the US, the FBI's warning of 13 August 2025 advises asking a law firm for video verification or proof of its licence, and assuming it is not legitimate if it cannot provide either.
• They cannot say how they know about your loss. In the UK, the FCA advises asking any caller who offers to recover your losses how they know about them, because a fraud report can only be shared between law enforcement agencies, never with a private recovery business (guidance last updated 19 January 2026).

What genuine bodies say they never do

• In the US, the FBI stated on 20 July 2026 that the IC3 will never ask for payment to recover lost funds and will never refer anyone to a company that charges for recovery.
• In the US, the FTC says government agencies and legitimate organisations will never ask for money to help you get a refund (guidance last modified 13 August 2026).
• In the US, the SEC says that anyone claiming to be from the SEC who asks for an upfront payment to recover funds is running a scam (Investor.gov, read on 5 October 2026).
• In the US, the CFTC says it will never approach you with offers to recover money lost to investment scams (advisory read on 5 October 2026).
• In the EU, ESMA says it will never approach you for personal details on the pretext of helping you recover lost money, or ask you to pay an administrative fee (page read on 5 October 2026).

If you are already talking to one

In the UK, the FCA says that if you are asked to pay a fee or give financial details to get lost money back, you should end all contact immediately and pay nothing (guidance last updated 19 January 2026). In the US, the FBI asks victims of fake law firm scams, and anyone who suspects they have been victimised by one, to report it to their local FBI field office and to the IC3 (warning of 13 August 2025). Wherever you live, report the approach through the same route you used for the first loss, and add it to your timeline.

Impersonation: Fake Support, Fake Officials

Recovery scammers are one kind of impersonator. The same approach works before and after a loss: a message, call or video that seems to come from a support team, a regulator or the police asks you to move funds, confirm a recovery phrase or pay a fee. Chainalysis reported on 13 January 2026 that impersonation scams, in which fraudsters pose as legitimate organisations or authority figures, grew by more than 1,400% in 2025 compared with 2024.

Fake support desks and wallet makers

• Neither of the two hardware wallet makers below will ask for your recovery phrase or ring you unannounced asking you to do anything with your wallet, and both say so in their own words.
• Ledger's support centre says that Ledger Support will never ask for your 24-word recovery phrase and that Ledger employees never make unsolicited phone calls, and it describes a variant in which a fake police officer, calling from a real police number, says someone is trying to get into your accounts and a fake agent of a company called Coincover then tells you to transfer your funds to secure them, adding that neither Ledger nor Coincover will ever ask you to move your funds (article last updated 28 August 2026); Ledger, which says its own systems were not involved, worked with Global-e, which handles purchases on Ledger.com, to notify the customers whose order data Global-e said on 5 January 2026 had been accessed (FAQ last updated 13 May 2026).
• Trezor's guidance, read on 5 October 2026, says that any request for your wallet backup, PIN, passwords or codes is always a scam, that it never contacts users by text message, WhatsApp, Telegram, phone call or post, and that scammers use AI to imitate its support in voice and video, and Trezor disclosed two supplier incidents in 2026 that show why: customer contact details were exposed at its shipping provider ShipMonk, which secured the affected systems, and on 9 September 2026 an attacker inside its email provider Brevo sent a fake security alert from Trezor's newsletter account, after which Trezor took the linked domain down within 20 minutes, suspended the Brevo account and contacted every recipient, and its post told anyone who had entered their wallet backup through the link to move their funds to a new wallet immediately (blog posts updated 4 and 17 September 2026).

Our wallet drainer guide explains how fake support sites capture a signature or a phrase.

Fake regulators, police and officials

• In the UK, the FCA says it would never ask you to transfer money to it or ask for bank PINs and passwords, that it does not use WhatsApp, other messaging services or automated calls, and that scammers can make its real switchboard numbers appear in your caller ID (guidance last updated 12 May 2026).
• In the UK, the FCA warns that a fake caller may claim the FCA is investigating your bank and that you must move your money to another account for security reasons (guidance last updated 12 May 2026).
• In the UK, the FCA adds that its employees will not share photo ID to prove who they are, and that you can check whether a call is genuine by ringing the FCA yourself on 0800 111 6768 (guidance last updated 12 May 2026).
• In the UK, the FCA says fraudsters also pose as the Financial Ombudsman Service, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and MoneyHelper (guidance last updated 12 May 2026).
• In the US, the FBI said on 17 September 2026 that the IC3 had received nearly 61,000 complaints about scammers impersonating law enforcement or government officials between January 2025 and July 2026, with losses of more than $1.6 billion, and that genuine officials never ask for payment by cryptocurrency, prepaid card or courier.
• In the US, the FBI warned on 20 July 2026 that AI-generated videos of FBI staff were promoting a spoofed IC3 website that hands out reference numbers.
• In the EU, ESMA says its phone numbers start only with +33 and its emails end only in @esma.europa.eu (page read on 5 October 2026).

To check that a regulator and its register entry are real, our verification guide shows how to do it yourself.

What Is Realistic: Seizures and Remission

Money taken in a crypto scam is sometimes frozen or seized, but the path from a seizure to a victim is long and narrow. One case shows each step, using US court and Justice Department records read on 5 October 2026.

One case: the Prince Group bitcoin

• 14 October 2025. In the US, the government filed a civil forfeiture complaint against about 127,271 bitcoin that it alleges came from the Prince Group, a Cambodian conglomerate it accuses of running forced-labour scam compounds that carried out crypto investment fraud, according to a court order of 25 September 2026.
• 25 September 2026. The US court's order in the Prince Group case put the bitcoin at about $10.7 billion at that day's rates, and noted that the government's complaint did not suggest all of the group's scam proceeds had passed through the wallets it seeks to forfeit.
• 25 September 2026. In the same order, the US judge struck some victims' claims and refused others permission to file late, ruling that these fraud victims, having voluntarily sent money to scammers, were general, unsecured creditors with no standing to contest the forfeiture unless they could plausibly trace their own funds into the seized wallets.
• 25 September 2026. The US court's order also says those Prince Group victims could instead petition the US Attorney General for remission if the government wins the case, and that if the petitions cannot all be paid in full, remission may be granted on a pro rata basis.
• 29 September 2026. The US Justice Department's list of active large remission matters, as updated that day and read on 5 October 2026, did not include the Prince Group case.

What victims can and cannot expect

In the US, the Justice Department's remission FAQ, read on 5 October 2026, says it cannot give a timeline, because assets must first be identified, seized, forfeited and sold. In the US, the Justice Department's remission FAQ also says that in most cases the money available does not fully compensate victims, so it is shared in proportion to their losses.

• You can expect to file a US remission petition without paying a fee and without a lawyer: the US Justice Department says there is no fee and that you do not need an attorney to file one (FAQ read on 5 October 2026).
• You can usually expect to be contacted if remission becomes possible: the US Justice Department's FAQ says victims are generally identified by the investigating agency or notified by a US Attorney's Office, which explains how to petition (read on 5 October 2026).
• You cannot expect a large seizure to contain your money: the US court's order of 25 September 2026 in the Prince Group case turned on whether each victim could trace their own funds into the seized wallets.
• You will not be asked to pay to take part in US remission: the US Justice Department says neither it nor its remission administrators will ever ask for payment, and that a fee request from an unknown source is a fraud (page updated 29 September 2026).

Elsewhere the routes differ, but the questions are the same: who holds the money, who controls it, and what you must prove to share in it. If a real platform failed rather than a fake one, they run through insolvency instead, which our platform failure guide covers.

Conclusion

A crypto scam takes money in minutes and gives very little back, so the hour after you realise matters more than any day that follows. Stop sending and stop signing, cut contact without warning the scammer, and call your bank if money left that way. If a wallet was involved, revoke what you did not mean to approve, and move what is left if your recovery phrase was exposed.

Then build the record. Save the transactions, the addresses, the websites and the chats, and write the timeline down while you remember it. Report to the body for where you live. That is Report Fraud in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, Police Scotland in Scotland, the IC3 and the FTC in the US, and in an EU country the local police and then your national financial regulator, with the FCA as a further report if you live in the UK. Keep every reference number.

Be clear about what each step can do. A report creates a record, but it is not a claim for your money. A UK bank may reimburse a bank transfer to a scammer under the APP rules, but not crypto you bought first and sent on. Freezes and seizures do happen, and when money comes back through US remission it comes slowly and usually in part.

Then guard against the second con. Treat anyone who contacts you unprompted about getting your money back as a suspect until you have checked them through contact details you found yourself. Treat anyone who claims to be a law firm working officially with a government agency, names a regulator you cannot find, or asks for a fee, a tax or your recovery phrase before releasing your money as running the next scam. The IC3, the FTC, the SEC, the CFTC and the Justice Department in the US, ESMA in the EU and the FCA in the UK all say they never ask for payment to get your money back. Refuse, end contact and report the approach.

For the habits that stop the next scam before it starts, go back to our crypto scam protection guide.

Sources

Every source below was read on 5 October 2026. Each entry gives the date the page shows, or says it is undated; the FTC entries add the later date in the page's metadata, which the text cites. Entries without a link are named in full, with the publisher's site.

• GOV.UK, Serious Fraud Office, Report Fraud: New service from City of London Police, 4 December 2025 — the replacement of Action Fraud and the unchanged number. gov.uk
• Report Fraud, What is Report Fraud?, undated — the crime reference number, what Report Fraud does not do, and the Victim Support line. reportfraud.police.uk
• Report Fraud, FAQs, undated — the service's scope and the Scotland exception. reportfraud.police.uk
• Police Scotland, How to report a crime, undated — 101, other ways to report, and 999. scotland.police.uk
• FCA, Report a scam, last updated 19 January 2026 — telling your bank, the reporting order and what the FCA cannot do. fca.org.uk
• FCA, Recovery room scams, last updated 19 January 2026 — how recovery rooms work and the advice to end contact. fca.org.uk
• FCA, Fake FCA communications, last updated 12 May 2026 — what the FCA never asks for, and spoofed numbers. fca.org.uk
• FCA, Crypto investment scams, last updated 16 February 2026 — the ombudsman position, follow-up scams and the reporting number. fca.org.uk
• Payment Systems Regulator, consolidated policy statement PS25/5, May 2025 — the APP reimbursement rules and the crypto-exchange exclusion. psr.org.uk
• Financial Ombudsman Service, Fraud and scams, undated — what the ombudsman can and cannot do. financial-ombudsman.org.uk
• FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, home page, undated — the IC3's role. ic3.gov
• FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, Frequently Asked Questions, undated — investigations, evidence and who may file. ic3.gov
• FBI public service announcement I-081325-PSA, 13 August 2025 — fictitious law firms. ic3.gov
• FBI public service announcement I-072026-PSA, 20 July 2026 — impersonation of the IC3 and re-targeting scams. ic3.gov
• FBI, 2025 Internet Crime Report, released 6 April 2026 — crypto complaints, recovery scams and bank-transfer freezes. ic3.gov
• FTC, What To Do if You Were Scammed, June 2026 on the page, last modified 21 August 2026 in its metadata — the payment steps and card protections. consumer.ftc.gov
• FTC, Refund and Recovery Scams, December 2023 on the page, last modified 13 August 2026 in its metadata — sucker lists and fees. consumer.ftc.gov
• ESMA, Investor Corner: frauds and scams, undated — what victims should do and what ESMA cannot do. esma.europa.eu
• Ledger support, Scams Targeting Crypto Holders, last updated 28 August 2026, and Global-e Incident to Order Data, last updated 13 May 2026 — what Ledger never asks for, the Coincover variant, and Global-e's notice of 5 January 2026 that order data was accessed, with Ledger helping it notify those affected. support.ledger.com
• Trezor, Common scams and phishing affecting Trezor users, undated, with its posts on the ShipMonk breach (updated 4 September 2026) and the Brevo incident (updated 17 September 2026) — the contact details exposed at ShipMonk, which secured its systems, and the fake alert of 9 September 2026, after which Trezor took the linked domain down within 20 minutes and contacted every recipient. trezor.io
• US District Court, Eastern District of New York, order of 25 September 2026 in United States v. Approximately 127,271 Bitcoin, 1:25-cv-05745 (CourtListener copy) — the Prince Group case. courtlistener.com
• Report Fraud, What to do if you are a victim of fraud, undated (reportfraud.police.uk) — 999 in an emergency, and Victim Support as a national charity.
• Financial Ombudsman Service, How to complain, undated (financial-ombudsman.org.uk) — the 15-day and 6-month time limits.
• FBI public service announcement I-091726-PSA, 17 September 2026 (ic3.gov) — impersonated officials.
• FTC, What To Know About Cryptocurrency and Scams, May 2022 on the page, last modified 10 February 2025 in its metadata (consumer.ftc.gov) — irreversible payments and where to report.
• FTC, Reporting fraud 101, 5 April 2023 (consumer.ftc.gov) — what the FTC does with reports.
• CFTC, Beware Imposters Posing as CFTC Officials, undated (cftc.gov) — what the CFTC does not do.
• SEC, Investor.gov, Resources for victims of securities law violations, undated (investor.gov) — recovery-scam demands.
• Chainalysis, 2026 Crypto Crime Report, scams chapter, 13 January 2026 (chainalysis.com) — impersonation scams.
• US Department of Justice, FAQ: Compensating Victims with Forfeited Assets, undated (justice.gov) — how remission works.
• US Department of Justice, Large Remission Matters, updated 29 September 2026 (justice.gov) — fees and active matters.
• The 2025 scam-loss figures are on our crypto scam protection guide.
• The IC3's 2025 crypto investment fraud figure is on our pig butchering guide.
• How to read a register entry is on our verification guide.
• If a real platform failed rather than a fake one, see our platform failure and recovery guide.
• How to revoke an approval is on our transaction signing hygiene guide.
• How drainers work, with their figures, is on our wallet drainer and phishing defence guide.
• The three questions to ask before you send or sign are on our scam protection guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

I have been scammed in crypto. What should I do first?

Stop sending money and stop signing anything, whatever fee you are told will release your balance, and cut contact without warning the scammer. In the UK, the FCA tells anyone who has paid a scammer to tell their bank immediately, using the contact details on their card or statements (guidance last updated 19 January 2026). Then save the evidence and report to the body for where you live.

Is Action Fraud still where I report a crypto scam?

No. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, Report Fraud, a City of London Police service, replaced Action Fraud on 4 December 2025, according to a GOV.UK news story that day, and takes reports at reportfraud.police.uk or on 0300 123 2040. In Scotland, report to Police Scotland on 101, because Report Fraud's own FAQ, read on 5 October 2026, says Police Scotland has not signed up to it.

Will my bank refund money I sent to a crypto scam?

It depends on how the money moved. In the UK, banks have had to reimburse eligible victims of authorised push payment scams sent by Faster Payments or CHAPS since 7 October 2024, up to £85,000 per claim, but the Payment Systems Regulator says the rules do not apply when you send money to your own account at a crypto exchange and then pay a fraudster in crypto (PS25/5, May 2025). In the UK, you can still complain about how your bank handled the payments.

Does reporting a crypto scam get my money back?

Not on its own. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, Report Fraud says it does not investigate cases (page read on 5 October 2026). In the UK, the FCA says it cannot help you get your money back (guidance last updated 19 January 2026). In the US, the IC3 says it does not conduct investigations (FAQ read on 5 October 2026). Report anyway, because your bank, the police or a court may later ask for the record.

How can I tell a recovery scam from genuine help?

Start with the fee. In the US, the FBI stated on 20 July 2026 that the IC3 will never ask for payment to recover lost funds, and the FTC says government agencies never ask for money to help you get a refund (guidance last modified 13 August 2026). In the UK, the FCA warns that recovery room scammers approach people who have already lost money and ask for an upfront fee (guidance last updated 19 January 2026).

Can a blockchain tracing report get my crypto back?

A report moves no money by itself. It can follow a payment between addresses and serve as evidence, but in an order of 25 September 2026 in the Prince Group bitcoin case, a US court said that a matching scam pattern did not appear to be a Prince Group signature, and that an investigator's unexplained belief did not make a victim's tracing claim plausible.

Will scam victims be repaid from seized crypto?

Sometimes, slowly and usually in part. In the US, the Justice Department says remission can only follow the seizure, forfeiture and sale of assets, that it cannot give a timeline, and that in most cases the money available does not fully compensate victims (FAQ read on 5 October 2026). The US Justice Department also says that neither it nor its remission administrators will ever ask for payment to take part in remission, and that a fee request from an unknown source is a fraud (page updated 29 September 2026).

Financial Disclaimer

This content is not financial advice. All information provided is for educational purposes only. Cryptocurrency investments carry significant investment risk, and past performance does not guarantee future results. Always do your own research and consult a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions.