Scammed? What to do now

Act calmly but quickly. The exact steps depend on what was shared or sent, but this order generally applies:

1. Contact your bank or card issuer immediately. Explain what happened and ask specifically about a chargeback (for card payments) or a payment recall (for bank transfers). Ask them to flag your account for monitoring and to block any card that may have been exposed.
2. Stop any further payments. If you are being asked to send more money, a "release fee", "tax", or "verification deposit", do not send it. These follow-up requests are extremely common and are themselves often a scam.
3. Change your passwords from a clean, trusted device. Do not reuse the device the scammer had access to until you are confident it is clean. Prioritize email, banking and any account that shares a password with the compromised one. Enable two-factor authentication wherever it is offered.
4. Check for remote-access software. If you installed anything at the scammer's request (screen-sharing apps, remote-support tools), uninstall it, run a security scan, and consider having the device checked professionally before using it for banking again.
5. Preserve evidence before deleting anything. Screenshot conversations, payment confirmations, profile pages, phone numbers, wallet addresses and email headers. Save files rather than just closing tabs. You will need this evidence for your bank, the platform, and any report you file.
6. File a police report. This creates an official record, which is often required by banks, insurers, and any future dispute process, even when the case cannot be solved quickly.
7. Notify the platform used. Report the profile, account or listing to the marketplace, social network, messaging app or exchange involved, so it can be reviewed and other users are less likely to be targeted the same way.

Being honest here matters more than being reassuring. Whether funds can be recovered depends heavily on the payment method:

• Card payments can sometimes be disputed through a chargeback process run by your card network and issuer. This has rules, evidence requirements and time limits, and is not guaranteed to succeed.
• Bank transfers can occasionally be recalled if you act fast and the receiving bank cooperates, but once funds are withdrawn or moved on, recall is unlikely.
• Wire transfers and cryptocurrency payments are generally irreversible by design. There is no central authority that can undo a confirmed blockchain transaction or a completed international wire.

There is no service, government body or company that can guarantee getting your money back, and anyone who promises a guaranteed recovery, especially for a fee paid upfront, should be treated with suspicion. See our dedicated guide on recovery scams for the red flags to watch for.

If you sent a copy of your ID, passport, proof of address or similar documents, treat this as a separate, parallel risk to any money lost. Documents can be reused to open accounts, apply for credit or impersonate you elsewhere.

• Contact your bank and any credit-monitoring or fraud-alert service available in your country.
• Ask whether a fraud alert or credit freeze can be placed on your file so new accounts cannot be opened in your name without extra checks.
• Keep a record of the exact documents shared and the date, for your police report and any future dispute.
• Watch your accounts and mail for unfamiliar activity over the following months, not just the next few days.

Once you have been scammed once, you may be contacted again, sometimes soon after, by someone offering to recover your funds for a fee. This is one of the most common secondary scams, and it specifically targets people who are already stressed and hopeful. Be especially wary of unsolicited messages that reference your case in detail, since victim information can circulate.

Read the full breakdown in our guide to recovery scams before paying anyone who claims they can get your money back.

Scams are designed to exploit trust, urgency and emotion, and being targeted successfully is not a sign of carelessness or low intelligence. Feelings of shame, anger or self-blame are common and understandable, but they can also stop people from reporting or from getting help quickly.

Tell someone you trust, a family member, friend or colleague, both for practical help with the steps above and because processing what happened is easier when you are not carrying it alone. If the scam involved a long relationship, such as a romance scam, the emotional impact can be significant; consider talking to a counselor or support service if you are struggling.

Fraudpol is not a bank, a government agency or a law-enforcement body, and it does not recover money on your behalf. What Fraudpol does is collect detailed reports on scammers, scam infrastructure and fraudulent accounts, and refer well-documented cases to the competent authorities and platforms that can act on them.

Reporting helps build a record that can support wider investigations and protect others from the same individual or group, even when it cannot undo what already happened to you. If you have identifying details, screenshots, wallet addresses, usernames or profile links connected to the person or group involved, you can report a scammer. Depending on the scam type, you may also find more specific guidance in our guides on reporting a crypto scammer, reporting a romance scammer, reporting a Telegram scammer, or reporting an Instagram scammer. If the scam started with a deceptive email or message, our guides on phishing and vishing explain how those techniques work.

Fraudpol never charges victims a fee to recover funds and never contacts people unsolicited asking for payment. Any message claiming to be from Fraudpol that asks for money upfront is not legitimate.

Last checked: September 2026.

• IC3.gov complaint form (FBI)
• ReportFraud.ftc.gov (FTC)
• Action Fraud: how to report fraud and cyber crime