You've been scammed. Here's exactly what to do now.
- Act fast. Some payments can still be stopped in the first hours - speed matters more than anything else below.
- What you do depends on how you paid. Find your situation in the list below and follow those steps.
- It is not your fault. These scams are built by organised operations to deceive careful people.
- Watch for the second scam. Anyone who contacts you offering to recover your money for a fee is almost always another fraud.
Do these five things first
Stop, document, contact, secure, report
Work top to bottom. The first three steps are time-sensitive - do them today.
Find your situation: what to do by how you paid
How recoverable the money is depends heavily on how it left your hands. Find the row that matches and act on it now. This guidance follows the US Federal Trade Commission's advice for people who paid a scammer;1 the principle - contact the company that moved the money and ask them to reverse it - applies in every country.
You paid by credit or debit card
Often recoverableCall your card issuer or bank, say it was a fraudulent charge, and ask them to reverse it (a "chargeback"). Credit cards have the strongest protection. In the US, billing-error disputes must be made in writing within 60 days of the statement, and the issuer must resolve them within two billing cycles.2 Ask the bank to cancel the card if the scammer has the number.
You sent a bank transfer, wire, or Zelle / Faster Payment
Act within hoursCall your bank's fraud line immediately and ask them to recall or stop the transfer - this is sometimes possible before it settles. In the UK, banks must reimburse most authorised push payment fraud victims under rules in force since October 2024 (capped at £85,000), unless you acted with gross negligence.3 Bank-impersonation calls that pressure you to "move money to a safe account" are a common setup - see the bank impersonation scam.
You bought gift cards and gave the codes
Sometimes recoverableContact the gift card company right away, tell them the card was used in a scam, and ask them to freeze the balance and refund you - some will if the funds have not been spent. Keep the physical card and the receipt. No legitimate business or agency is ever paid in gift cards. See the gift card payment scam for how this demand is engineered.
You used a payment app (Cash App, Venmo, PayPal, Zelle)
Act within hoursReport the transaction as fraud inside the app, and separately call the bank or card linked to it. Ask both to reverse the payment. Transfers between individuals can be hard to claw back, so the faster you flag it, the better the odds.
You sent cryptocurrency
Hard to reverseCrypto transactions usually cannot be undone, but still act: contact the exchange or platform you used, report the receiving wallet address, and file with law enforcement quickly - occasionally funds can be frozen at an exchange. Be especially alert to recovery scams afterwards; crypto victims are heavily targeted, often by the same networks behind pig butchering scams.
You shared personal information (SSN, ID, date of birth)
Act within hoursTreat this as potential identity theft, separate from any money lost. Freeze your credit with the major bureaus, watch your accounts, and in the US use the FTC's IdentityTheft.gov to get a personalised recovery plan.
You gave away a password or a 2FA / one-time code
Act within hoursChange that password immediately, and change it anywhere else you reused it. Turn on two-factor authentication and sign out other sessions. If it was your email or bank login, secure that first - it is the key to everything else.
You let someone control your computer or phone remotely
Act within hoursDisconnect the device from the internet, uninstall any remote-access app they had you install (AnyDesk, TeamViewer, "support" tools), and run a security scan. Change passwords from a different, trusted device, and contact your bank if you logged into accounts while they were watching. This is the core of the tech support scam.
Beware the second scam
Being scammed once puts you on a list. Within days or weeks, many victims are approached again - by someone claiming to be a "recovery agent", a law firm, a government investigator, or even a fellow victim - offering to get the lost money back for an upfront fee. It is a second fraud, deliberately aimed at people who are desperate to recover a loss.
The rule is simple: no legitimate agency or service ever charges an upfront fee to recover your money. Anyone who does is scamming you again. Read how this works in the money recovery scam guide, and ignore unsolicited recovery offers entirely.
Losing money to a scam can be genuinely distressing, and the shame the scam relies on can make it worse. You are not alone, and free, confidential support is available:
- US: 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline - call or text 988
- UK & ROI: Samaritans - call 116 123
- Australia: Lifeline - call 13 11 14
- Elsewhere: find a helpline at findahelpline.com
Where to report it
Report fraud even if you did not lose money - it helps investigators map the operation. Pick your country below, or see the full country-by-country guide to reporting a scam for agencies, phone numbers, and what happens next.
You are far from alone
Fraud is one of the most common crimes there is, and reported losses keep climbing. If you have just been scammed, you are part of a very large group - and that scale is exactly why reporting and acting quickly matters.
The figures above are US totals, but the pattern is global. Whatever the scam was called, the response is the same: stop, document, contact whoever moved the money, secure what you exposed, and report. If you are still working out which scam you hit, browse the full list of scam guides - each one ends with steps specific to that pattern.
Frequently asked questions
- Can I get my money back after being scammed?
- Sometimes, and speed matters most. Card payments can often be disputed and reversed. Bank transfers, wires, and payment-app transfers are harder but worth reporting to your bank immediately, as some can still be recalled. Gift card and cryptocurrency payments are the hardest to recover, but still report them. The sooner you contact the institution that moved the money, the better your chances.
- How fast do I need to act?
- As fast as possible, ideally within hours. Banks can sometimes stop or recall a transfer if you call before it settles. Card disputes have legal deadlines. Gift card companies are more likely to freeze a card's balance if it has not been spent yet. Acting today is far more effective than acting tomorrow.
- Someone contacted me offering to recover my money. Should I pay them?
- No. Anyone who contacts you promising to recover money you lost, for an upfront fee, is almost certainly running a second scam that targets people who were just defrauded. No legitimate agency or service charges a fee to get your money back. Treat these offers as fraud.
- I feel embarrassed. Is it still worth reporting?
- Yes. These scams are engineered by organised criminal operations to deceive careful, intelligent people, so there is nothing to be ashamed of. Most victims never report, which is exactly what the criminals rely on. Your report helps investigators track the operation and can support your own bank claim.
- Do I need to report a scam to the police?
- In many countries you report fraud through a national agency rather than your local police, for example ReportFraud.ftc.gov in the US or Action Fraud in the UK. A local police report can still help, especially if you need a crime reference number for your bank or insurer. See the country-by-country section above for where to file.
- Federal Trade Commission, "What To Do if You Were Scammed." Payment-method actions: contacting the bank, card, gift card, wire, or payment company that moved the money and asking them to reverse it.
- Federal Trade Commission, "Using Credit Cards and Disputing Charges." The Fair Credit Billing Act 60-day written dispute window and the issuer's resolution timeline.
- UK Payment Systems Regulator, authorised push payment (APP) fraud reimbursement requirement, in force 7 October 2024 (Faster Payments and CHAPS), reimbursement capped at £85,000. UK bank reimbursement rules and the gross-negligence exception.
- Federal Trade Commission, "New FTC Data Show a Big Jump in Reported Losses to Fraud to $12.5 Billion in 2024" and the Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book 2024, March 2025. 2024 loss total, the share of reporters who lost money, the investment-scam total, and the under-reporting estimate.
We document how online scams work using primary sources - government agencies, law enforcement, and security researchers. This page is general guidance, not legal or financial advice. Read about how we research or who we are.