← The Crypto Fraud Record

If You Have Been Defrauded

What to do now, in what order, and what is realistically possible. We are not selling anything and we cannot recover your money.

Nobody can guarantee your money back, and we cannot get it for you. Recovery is sometimes possible — through a court, an exchange, or law enforcement — and it is never quick or certain. Anyone who contacts you promising otherwise, for a fee, is running the second fraud. That is a documented pattern, not a caution.

1. Stop, before anything else

  • Send nothing further.Not a “release fee”, not a “tax”, not a “verification deposit”. A demand for one more payment to unlock a balance is the fraud continuing, and it is the most common way the loss doubles.
  • Do not let anyone access your device or screen.Remote-access software installed “to help you withdraw” is how the remaining accounts go.
  • If anyone has your seed phrase or private key, move any remaining funds now, to a wallet created on a device they have never touched. A seed phrase cannot be changed; the only remedy is to empty the wallet.
  • Do not delete anything — not the app, not the chat, not the emails. It feels like the natural response and it destroys the only evidence you have.

2. Gather the evidence, today, before it disappears

Fraudulent platforms are taken down or vanish, frequently within days. Anything you have not captured is likely to be gone.

  • Every transaction hash
    The single most useful thing you can provide. It is the permanent public record of the payment and it is what lets an investigator follow the money.
  • Every wallet address you sent to
    Including ones you were given and did not use. Addresses connect your loss to other people's.
  • Amounts, dates and times, and which asset
    USDT on TRON and USDT on Ethereum are different records. Say which.
  • The website, app and any download links
    Screenshot the site and the account dashboard now. Fraudulent platforms are taken down or disappear, often within days, and the evidence goes with them.
  • Every message thread
    WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram, SMS, email. Export rather than screenshot where you can. Include the phone numbers and handles.
  • How the money left you
    Bank transfer, card, an exchange account, cash. This decides whether a chargeback or a bank recall is even possible.
  • The exchange account you bought through
    If you bought the crypto on a mainstream exchange, that exchange has your identity records and can be compelled. It is a route that exists.

3. Tell your bank or card issuer, if money left through one

  • If you bought the cryptocurrency with a card or a bank transfer in the last few days, a recall or chargeback may still be possible. That window is short and it is the only route where speed genuinely changes the outcome.
  • Call the number on your card or from your own banking app — never a number someone gave you. In the UK you can dial 159 to reach your bank directly.
  • Cryptocurrency payments themselves are not reversible. This step is about the fiat leg, not the crypto leg.

4. Tell the exchange

  • If you bought through a mainstream exchange, tell them. They hold identity records on the receiving side in some cases, they can freeze accounts within their own platform, and they respond to law-enforcement requests.
  • Give them the transaction hashes and the destination addresses. A report without those is very difficult for anyone to act on.

5. Report it, to the right place for where you are

Reporting rarely returns your money on its own. It is worth doing anyway: your transaction hashes may connect your loss to an existing investigation, and volume is what moves these cases.

Cyprus

Report to the police cybercrime unit. If a Cyprus-regulated investment firm was involved, CySEC is the second route.

United Kingdom

Report Fraud replaced Action Fraud in December 2025. Scotland is different — it reports to Police Scotland.

  • Report Fraud (England, Wales, Northern Ireland) · 0300 123 2040
    The national fraud and cybercrime reporting service, run by City of London Police. Replaced Action Fraud on 4 December 2025; the old address redirects here.
  • Police Scotland · 101
    Scotland does not use Report Fraud. Call 101, or 999 if a crime is in progress.
  • FCA — report an unauthorised firm · 0800 111 6768
    If the platform presented itself as a regulated financial firm. The FCA also publishes a Warning List you can search.
  • Call 159 to reach your bank safely · 159
    If money left a UK bank account, 159 connects you to your own bank without going through any number a caller gave you. Roughly 30 banks participate.

Elsewhere in the EU

There is no single EU reporting route. Europol does not take reports from the public — it redirects you to your own country.

United States

Report to IC3 first — it is the FBI's intake and the one most likely to connect your loss to an existing investigation.

6. Expect to be targeted again

  • Your details are now on a list. Fraud operations buy and scrape contact details of people who have already reported losses, from forums, social media and complaint boards. A second approach is likely, and it will arrive dressed as help.
  • The tells are consistent and documented by the FBI: they contact you first; they want a fee before doing any work; they claim to be an authorised partner of a government agency (no such thing exists); they refuse to appear on video; they move you to WhatsApp or Telegram; they promise a guaranteed or complete recovery; and they tell you not to discuss it with your family, your bank or a lawyer.
  • Law enforcement does not charge you to investigate a crime, and does not contact victims through messaging apps.

7. What is realistically possible

  • If the funds are still sitting in a wallet that an issuer can freeze — USDT and USDC balances can be frozen at the contract level, and are, often. That does not return them to you, but it stops them moving and it is a precondition for any later return.
  • If the funds reached a regulated exchange — there is an identity record and a legal route. This is the most common path to any real recovery.
  • If the funds were converted and moved through mixers — realistically, they are gone. It is better to hear that now than to spend more money finding out.
  • Civil recovery through the courts exists and works, and it is generally proportionate only at substantial values because of what it costs to run.

You can check whether a wallet has been frozen

If you have the address you sent to, you can check it against the public record of addresses frozen, blacklisted or sanctioned. It runs in your browser and the address is never sent to us. It will not tell you whether you will get anything back — but if the address has been frozen, that is a fact worth including in every report you file.

Why there is no form on this page

We do not ask for your name, your loss, or your contact details, and there is nothing here to fill in. Sites that collect that information from people in your position create exactly the list that the second wave of fraud is bought from. The most useful thing we can do is tell you what to do and then get out of the way.