I’ve been scammed: 6 things to do right now

The money may already be gone, but the actions you take the moment you realize you’ve been scammed are vital to your recovery. Some payments can be reversed, some accounts can be locked before anyone touches them, and one particular follow-up call is worth preparing for now. Here’s what to do, in order.

1. Stop sending money and cut off contact

Scams rarely end with one payment. If the person is still texting, calling, or emailing, block them on every channel and don’t reply to explain why. Any further contact tells them you’re still reachable.

If you gave them remote access to your phone or computer, disconnect it from the internet, run a scan with your security software, and delete anything it flags.

2. Call your bank or the payment company right away

Speed works in your favor. Tell them a scammer tricked you into sending money and ask them to reverse the payment.

Crypto has the fewest protections and cash in the mail is close behind, but make the call anyway. The record you create matters later, for the police report and for any insurance claim.

3. Write it all down while it’s fresh

Screenshot the texts, emails, and profiles before the scammer deletes them. Save voicemails. Note the phone numbers, account numbers, wallet addresses, dates, and amounts. Keep every receipt and wire confirmation.

You'll need this for your bank, law enforcement, and any claim you file. Do it today rather than tomorrow.

4. Lock down your accounts and your credit

Money is only half of what a scammer takes. Think through what else you handed over.

• If you gave up a password, change it, change it anywhere else you used it, and turn on two-factor authentication. If you can’t log in anymore, start the account’s recovery process right away.

• If you gave up a card or account number, call the bank, ask them to close the account, and have your new numbers issued.

• If you revealed your Social Security number, go to IdentityTheft.gov and follow the recovery plan built for your situation.

• Lock or freeze your credit file at all three bureaus so nobody can open an account in your name, and keep watching your statements for small test charges the scammer might try to make.

5. Report it to the FTC and the FBI

File a report at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and at the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, IC3.gov. Then file a report with your local police department.

Most reports don't lead to an arrest, so it's fair to wonder whether this is worth the effort. It is. Investigators use the reports to spot patterns and build cases, and you walk away with an official record of the crime. You'll need that record if money is ever recovered and returned to victims, and almost always to file an insurance claim.

If you're 60 or older and want help filing, the Justice Department runs an Elder Fraud Hotline at 1-833-372-8311.

6. Be prepared for the second scam

This is the step most people don't see coming, and it's the one that does the most additional damage.

“The biggest mistake scam victims make isn't falling for the original scam. It's falling for the recovery scam that comes afterward,” warns Daniel Di Nardo, a network and security consultant and founder of IntelliBreach.

Within days or weeks, someone will contact you offering to get your money back. It almost always runs the same way.

• The offer arrives out of the blue. It comes as a phone call, an email, a social media message, or an ad for a recovery service.

• It sounds official. They’ll say they’re a law firm, a consumer advocacy group, a crypto recovery service, or a federal agent.

• They know your case. They can name the amount you lost and the kind of scam you fell for, which is exactly what makes them sound believable.

• They ask for money or more information. They want a retainer, a processing fee, or your bank account number so they can deposit your “recovered funds.”

It's the same crime a second time. Sometimes it's run by the people who took your money in the first place, coming back under a new name. The rest of the time, your name has been sold. Fraud rings build and trade lists of victims that include your phone number, the type of scam you fell for, and how much you lost.

If you've been scammed, "you are on a call list now," Jacob Chichester, a detective who investigates fraud for the Lake County Sheriff's Office in Florida, told AARP. "And they are passing your name around."

What makes these work is that they arrive when your judgment is at its worst. You're angry, embarrassed, and you want the money back.

"That's what makes this so insidious," said Elsie Kappler, an attorney in the FTC's Division of Marketing Practices. "They know these people have already been scammed, so they know they're really good targets."

How to shut a recovery scam down

Here are the key rules to shutting it down:

1. Treat any unsolicited recovery offer as a scam. If you didn’t go looking for help and it found you, it’s a scam.

2. Never pay a fee to get money back. As Robert Mascio of FINRA's Investor Education Outreach put it, “If anybody’s asking for money up-front, that’s a clear indicator that it’s a scam.”

3. Know how federal agencies work. IC3 has no social media presence, never contacts people by phone, email, or chat, and will never ask for payment to recover funds. The FBI has warned that scammers are impersonating IC3 directly, including with AI-generated videos of senior FBI officials and a fake version of the IC3 website.

4. Check credentials before you engage. Search the firm's name alongside words like "scam" and "complaint," look up financial professionals on FINRA's BrokerCheck, and ask your state attorney general's office about complaints.

5. Never pay a fee to get money back. If someone sends you a check for more than you lost and asks you to wire back the difference, the check is counterfeit. When it bounces, the money comes out of your account along with the overdraft fees.

Why do banks rarely refund the money you sent a scammer?

The hardest part of this kind of fraud is that you authorized the transfer. Because the money left your account with your permission, standard bank fraud protections often don't apply, and traditional identity theft insurance usually doesn't cover it either. Those policies reimburse the cost of restoring your identity, not the money you were tricked into sending.

Greenlight Family Shield covers that gap. Eligible deceptive transfer fraud losses are reimbursed up to $100,000 per claim, after a $1,000 deductible¹, when someone in your family is deceived into sending money to a person impersonating a relative, a professional they work with, or a business they already deal with. Coverage applies to accounts Greenlight is actively monitoring, and claims need to be filed within 60 days of discovering the scam.

One plan includes coverage for up to two senior members of the family, so the grandparent getting the AI voice-cloned phone call is covered under the same $19.98 a month as everyone else.

FAQs

Can I get my money back if I initiated a money transfer?

Sometimes, but it depends on how you paid and how fast you call. Credit card and bank transfers have the best odds. Crypto, gift cards, and cash sent by mail have the worst.

Is it worth reporting a small loss?

Yes. Reports are how investigators spot patterns, and the record is usually required to file an insurance claim.

Someone offered to recover my money for a fee. Is that real?

No, nobody legitimate charges an up-front fee to recover stolen funds, and federal agencies never do.

Will the scammers come after me again?

They may, and often they do. Your name, phone number, and loss amount get traded on victim lists, and the original crew sometimes comes back under a new name.

Does my bank have to refund me?

Usually not, if you authorized the transfer yourself. The protections that cover unauthorized charges don't extend to money you were tricked into sending.

¹Insurance offered by Acrisure, LLC is provided by ACE American Insurance Company and its U.S.-based Chubb underwriting company affiliates. www.chubb.com. Additional details can be viewed here. See link for policy information. Insurance Products are not insured by the FDIC or any federal government agency and are not a deposit or other obligation of, or guaranteed by, any bank or bank affiliate.