Recovery & Refund Scams

A recovery scam targets people who have already been defrauded. Someone makes contact offering to trace and return your stolen money, usually for a fee, and the fee is the scam. These are among the cruellest frauds in circulation because they arrive at the exact moment hope is worth the most, and AARP named them one of the five scams to watch in 2026.

How It Works:

• The Sucker List: Scammers keep and trade detailed records of who paid and how much. Being defrauded once makes you a prioritized target, and the approach often comes from the same organization that took the money the first time.
• The Approach: Contact arrives from a "crypto asset recovery" firm, a lawyer, a private investigator, or someone claiming to be from a government agency or your bank. Many advertise openly on social media and in search results, targeting scam-related searches.
• The Credibility: They know real details about your loss, because they either bought the file or wrote it. They may show you a dashboard purporting to trace your funds on the blockchain.
• The Fee: A retainer, a filing fee, a tax, a bond, a bribe for a foreign official. Each payment produces a new obstacle requiring one more payment, and the pattern repeats until you stop.

Key Red Flags:

• Any upfront fee to recover money. This is the defining feature. Legitimate law enforcement never charges you, and legitimate lawyers do not cold-call fraud victims.
• An unsolicited approach, particularly one that arrives soon after your loss.
• A guarantee of recovery. Nobody can promise this, and most defrauded money is never recovered.
• A "government official" or "IC3 agent" contacting you directly by phone, email, or social media.
• Requests for your crypto wallet seed phrase or your banking credentials so they can "access the funds."
• Payment demanded in crypto, gift cards, or wire transfer.

What Actually Works:

• Report it to IC3 promptly and for free: The FBI's Recovery Asset Team can sometimes freeze a wire if it is reported quickly enough. Speed matters far more than any paid service.
• Contact your bank or card issuer directly: Ask about a recall, a chargeback, or a fraud claim. Do this yourself, through the number on your card.
• Report to the FTC and your state attorney general: Also free, and it feeds the cases that do get built.
• Call the AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline on 877-908-3360: Free guidance and support, with no membership required.
• If you want a lawyer, go and find one yourself: Through your state bar association, not through someone who contacted you.

Recovery scams most often follow investment and crypto fraud, lottery and sweepstakes scams, and relationship scams. If you have been targeted once, expect a second approach, and treat every offer of help that finds you as fraudulent until you have verified it independently.