I Sent Crypto to a Scammer — What Do I Do?

We'll be straight with you, because false hope helps no one. Cryptocurrency transactions are designed to be irreversible. There is no bank or company that can simply reverse the charge, and in many cases the money cannot be recovered at all.

That said, the first few hours matter. Acting quickly gives exchanges and investigators the best chance to flag or freeze funds before the scammer moves them again — and it protects the next person. The steps below are worth doing even when recovery is a long shot.

One rule to hold onto through everything that follows: no legitimate person or service ever charges an upfront fee to get your crypto back. Anyone who promises that is running a second scam.

Do not send another message, and do not send another cent. If the scammer is telling you to pay taxes, fees, or one more deposit to unlock your funds, that is part of the scam — every extra payment is simply gone.

• Stop replying, but do not delete anything — you'll need the conversation as evidence.
• Take screenshots of the chat, their profile, and any website or app they sent you to, before it disappears.
• If they had any access to your devices or accounts — for example, through remote-access software they asked you to install — disconnect from the internet and remove that software.

If you bought the crypto through an exchange, or funded it from your bank or card in the last few hours, contact both immediately. Speed is everything here.

• Your crypto exchange: report the scammer's receiving wallet address and ask them to flag it. If that wallet is hosted at an exchange, staff can sometimes freeze funds that haven't been withdrawn yet, and they routinely cooperate with law enforcement.
• Your bank or card issuer: if you paid by card or bank transfer to buy the crypto, call the number on the back of your card, report the fraud, and ask whether the payment can be stopped or disputed. Ask them to watch your account for further unauthorized activity.
• Change the password and turn on two-factor authentication for any exchange or wallet account the scammer knew about.

Good records make your reports far more useful to investigators — and are often required by your bank. Before anything gets deleted, gather:

• The transaction ID (hash), the receiving wallet address, and the amount, date, and time of each payment.
• All messages, emails, and phone numbers, plus the scammer's usernames and profile links.
• The name and URL of the website or app they told you to use, and screenshots of your account or dashboard on it.
• Receipts from your exchange, your bank, or any crypto ATM you used.

Keep copies in more than one place. You may be filing several reports, and each one will ask for these details.

Reporting won't guarantee recovery, but it feeds the investigations that occasionally do freeze funds and shut scams down. File as soon as you can:

• United States: the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov, and the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov.
• United Kingdom: Action Fraud at actionfraud.police.uk (in Scotland, call Police Scotland on 101).
• Anywhere: file a report with your local police — a crime reference number is often needed for a bank claim — and report to your national fraud or financial regulator.

Be aware: law enforcement never charges you a fee to investigate, and no private "recovery" company can issue a seizure order to claw back crypto. If someone claims to be following up on your report and wants payment, it's a scam.

Chainabuse is a free, community-run database where you can report a scammer's wallet address, the website they used, and the transaction hash. Your report:

• Warns other people who search that wallet or website before they pay.
• Helps analysts and law-enforcement partners spot patterns across many victims.
• Can be filed without publishing sensitive personal details about yourself.

It won't get your money back — no reporting tool can — but it's a quick, meaningful way to blunt the scammer's next move.

Within days of being scammed, many people are targeted a second time by someone promising to get the lost crypto back — a recovery expert, an asset-recovery agent, or even a fake official who says they found your case. It is one of the cruelest scams there is, because it preys on people who have already been hurt.

Protect yourself with a few firm rules:

• Never pay an upfront fee to recover funds. Regulators are blunt about this: if you pay, you simply lose more.
• Be suspicious of anyone who contacts you first, guarantees results, or asks for your wallet seed phrase, passwords, or remote access to your device.
• Real law enforcement never asks for payment, gift cards, or crypto to investigate.
• If you want professional help, use a licensed lawyer you found independently — never someone who messaged you out of the blue.

Often, no — and it's kinder to be honest about that. Crypto transactions are built to be irreversible, so there is no chargeback or reversal like there is with a card. Recovery does happen occasionally when funds are traced to an exchange and frozen fast, which is exactly why speed and reporting matter. But you should treat the money as gone and be very wary of anyone who guarantees they can retrieve it.

No. No legitimate service charges an upfront fee to recover crypto, and regulators are clear that paying only loses you more money. Recovery scams specifically target people who were recently defrauded. If you want real help, contact your bank, law enforcement, or a licensed lawyer you found yourself — never someone who contacted you first.

As fast as you can, ideally within hours. The sooner you alert your exchange and file a report, the better the chance that funds can be flagged or frozen before the scammer moves them on. Even if hours or days have passed, still report it — your evidence can help investigators and protect other people.

Yes. These scams are engineered by professionals to fool careful, intelligent people, so there's nothing to be ashamed of. Every report — large or small — helps authorities map the networks behind these scams and can be the detail that links your case to a bigger investigation.

There's no guarantee your specific funds will be recovered, but reports genuinely matter. They can trigger freezes, build cases against scam operations, and give you the crime reference number your bank may need. Reporting is free, and it's one of the few things fully in your control.