You have already lost money
I sent crypto to a scammer — what to do in the first hour
Which call to make first, what to write down before the window closes, and where the transaction hash actually is.
Journal
Plain answers about fraud, tracing and recovery. The kind of thing you need at two in the morning, when you have just realised what has happened and you cannot tell whether any of it is reversible.
We write about mechanisms and deadlines, and we name the body that decides. We do not publish success rates, we do not give personalised advice, and we do not sell anything here.
If this is happening now
- Report Fraud
- The UK national reporting centre. Online at reportfraud.police.uk, or 0300 123 2040.
- MoneyHelper
- Free, official, impartial. Financial Crimes and Scams Unit on 0800 015 4402. It will never contact you first and never charge for help.
- Your bank
- Call before you do anything else, and use the fraud line rather than the number in a recent text or email. For a Faster Payments transfer, ask them to raise a recall request.
Figures checked 27 September 2026.
What we will not publish.
Most of what circulates about recovering money is written by people who want your fee. These are the rules we hold ourselves to, published so you can hold us to them.
- 01No success rates, and no "typical" amount recovered. Not softened, not hedged. Absent.
- 02No personal financial or legal advice. We describe the mechanism and the deadline, and name the body that decides.
- 03No claim that a fee buys a result, and no promise that your money will come back.
- 04Every number carries the date it was true, because these numbers change.
- 05Registers are linked, never screenshotted. A screenshot goes stale and can be faked in an afternoon.
- 06Every article is checked against the same fraud-warning list that we apply to other firms. Ours included.
What is being written.
These are the pieces we are working through, in the order people need them. Each is checked against a named official source before it goes up, and the ones with numbers in them carry the date the number was true.
None of them is linked yet, because they do not exist yet. A half-written article is worse than no article — particularly on a subject where someone is about to make a decision based on what they read.
Checking a claim
Can I chargeback crypto? Why chargebacks do not work on on-chain transfers
The short answer is no, and the reason is not technical. It is that the exchange supplied the service you paid for.
Checking a claim
Section 75 or chargeback? The difference, and why crypto breaks both
Two different mechanisms with two different clocks and two different limits. People confuse them constantly, usually to their cost.
Before it happens
Fraud recovery scams: how the second wave works and how to spot it
The second contact usually comes from the people who committed the first fraud. This is the single most important article on the site.
The industry itself
Recovery firms that ask for money up front — is that always a scam?
What the warning lists actually say, and what a regulated professional is required to do instead.
You have already lost money
How long do I have to report a bank transfer scam? Every deadline that matters
Thirteen months, 120 days, six years, 45 days. Which clock applies to you, and which one is quietly running now.
Checking a claim
What is the £85,000 APP scam limit and does my claim qualify?
A cap, a £100 excess, a 13-month window and a set of exclusions that quietly remove more claims than people expect.
You have already lost money
Can my bank or the exchange get it back?
A recall is a request, not a right. A freeze request to an exchange is also a request. Here is what each one can and cannot do.
Before it happens
How to spot a crypto investment scam before you send the first payment
The small successful withdrawal is not proof the platform is real. It is the single most reliable part of the scam.
Checking a claim
How to tell if a crypto platform is real, or a clone of a real one
A convincing logo, a London address and an "FCA regulated" badge on the website prove nothing. How to check properly.
You have already lost money
Why will the police or the regulator not get my crypto back?
Different bodies have different remits, and none of them has a mandate to recover your money from an overseas exchange.
Before it happens
What is still traceable after a crypto scam?
Both halves of the answer, which are almost never given together: transactions are permanently recorded, and tracing becomes hard across borders.
Before it happens
Please send your seed phrase to recover your funds — and every other wallet trick
Nobody legitimate ever asks for a seed phrase. The ways people are talked into handing one over are more inventive than the warnings suggest.
Before it happens
Invoicing fraud and payment-diversion scams: the business playbook
The supplier email that looks entirely genuine except for the bank details, and the controls that would have caught it.
Checking a claim
Which register proves a firm is real?
One register per activity per jurisdiction — and the gap where the exchange you actually used is registered nowhere at all.
Something not covered here?
If you cannot find the answer to a question you are actually asking, tell us. If it is a question other people are asking too, it is probably the next thing we write — and we would rather write it than guess.