Key Takeaway:
If you’ve lost money to a scam and someone contacts you offering to get it back — a “lawyer”, a “recovery firm”, even someone claiming to be from the FBI — it is almost certainly a second scam. Recovery scammers buy lists of people who have already been defrauded, and the FBI received 10,516 complaints about recovery scams in 2025, with $1.4 billion in reported losses. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) never charges to recover money and never contacts victims through social media, and the FTC says legitimate organisations never ask for payment to get you a refund. The things that genuinely help are free: call your bank fast, and report to IC3 or the FTC yourself.
What Is a Recovery Scam?
A recovery scam targets people who have already been scammed. Soon after the first loss — sometimes weeks, sometimes months — someone gets in touch with good news: your money has been traced, a case has been opened, and it can be returned. All you need to do is pay a fee, share some account details, or verify your identity.
There is no money waiting. The fee is the scam, and so is the “verification” that hands over your bank details.
It works because it arrives at the worst possible moment. You’ve lost money, you feel embarrassed, and you desperately want it back. A calm, official-sounding person offering exactly that is hard to turn away — which is why the FTC says recovery scammers buy lists of people who’ve already been scammed. Being a victim once puts you on a list for the next attempt.
📊 How Big the Problem Is
The FBI’s 2025 Internet Crime Report breaks recovery scams out as their own category:
| Age group | Complaints | Reported losses |
|---|---|---|
| Under 20 | 106 | $3.8 million |
| 20–29 | 841 | $22.5 million |
| 30–39 | 1,511 | $76.2 million |
| 40–49 | 1,977 | $194.7 million |
| 50–59 | 1,706 | $298.2 million |
| 60+ | 2,529 | $540.5 million |
| All ages | 10,516 | $1.4 billion |
One honest caveat the FBI itself adds: these losses may include the original scam that led the victim to the recovery company, so not all $1.4 billion was taken by the recovery scammers. The pattern is still clear. People over 60 filed the most complaints and lost the most, and the FBI says it saw an increase in complaints about scammers impersonating government officials and recovery firms.
🚨 The New Version: Fake FBI and IC3 Agents
The Internet Crime Complaint Center — IC3, at ic3.gov — is where Americans report online fraud to the FBI. That makes it the perfect disguise. In a public alert dated 20 July 2026, the FBI warned that scammers are impersonating IC3 staff and have added new tricks:
- AI-generated videos of a “senior FBI leader” encouraging people to file complaints — on a fake IC3 website.
- Spoofed IC3 websites that look like the real one but use a simplified form asking only for your name, phone number, email, the type of scam and how much you lost. That form is a list of freshly identified victims, delivered straight to the scammers.
- Contact by email, phone, social media adverts and online forums, claiming your funds have been recovered or that they can help recover them.
- Social media profiles claiming to be connected to IC3.
The FBI’s own answer to all of it is short: IC3 does not have a social media presence, it does not contact victims directly by phone, email, social media or chat, it never asks for payment to recover lost funds, and it will not refer you to a company that asks for payment. The FBI also suggests looking for the tell-tale flaws of AI video — distorted hands or feet, unnatural faces — and checking web and email addresses letter by letter for small changes.
The FTC has issued the same warning about people impersonating the FTC, and adds that the FTC will never tell you to move money to “protect it”, withdraw cash, or buy gold and hand it to someone.
⚖️ The Other Version: Fake Law Firms
An earlier FBI alert (13 August 2025) described fictitious law firms targeting people who lost money to cryptocurrency scams. The details are worth knowing, because they’re convincing:
- Real-looking paperwork, sometimes carrying the insignia of a genuine law firm.
- Made-up regulators — the FBI named one example, the “International Financial Trading Commission” — and claims of being an authorised partner of US and foreign government agencies.
- A foreign bank account said to be holding your recovered money, which you must register on a website that looks legitimate but is fake.
- WhatsApp groups with supposed bank processors and attorneys, all playing a part.
- Fees to “verify your identity” or keep things confidential, paid in cryptocurrency or gift cards.
- Exact knowledge of your losses — the amounts and dates of your earlier transfers.
That last point is what convinces people: how would they know the exact amount unless they were real? The uncomfortable answer is that the information can come from the original scammers, from leaked or sold victim lists, or from a fake complaint form you filled in. Knowing your details proves nothing about who they are.
What They Say vs What’s Really Happening
| They say | The reality |
|---|---|
| “We’re from the FBI / IC3 and we’ve recovered your funds.” | IC3 doesn’t contact victims directly and never charges to recover money. |
| “There’s a small processing fee / tax / retainer first.” | The FTC’s rule of thumb: never pay upfront for a refund or help getting one. Legitimate organisations won’t ask. |
| “Your money is held at a foreign bank — open an account to receive it.” | The “bank” is a fake website, and the account details you enter go to the scammers. |
| “Pay in crypto or gift cards so it can be processed quickly.” | No government agency or real law firm takes fees in gift cards or cryptocurrency. |
| “Keep this confidential — it could compromise the case.” | Secrecy stops you asking your bank or family, who would spot the scam. |
| “You’re on a government list of victims.” | You may well be on a list — one sold between scammers. |
✅ Red Flags Checklist
- They contacted you first, about money you lost.
- They ask for any upfront payment, whatever it’s called — fee, tax, retainer, deposit, verification.
- Payment by cryptocurrency, gift cards, wire transfer or a payment app.
- They want bank logins, card numbers or remote access to your computer “to process the refund”.
- They claim to be from a government agency and reach you through social media, WhatsApp or a Facebook ad.
- They won’t appear on video or give credentials you can check independently.
- Urgency and secrecy: the offer expires, or you mustn’t tell anyone.
Any one of these is enough to stop. If you want to practise spotting the patterns, the free Scam Test walks through real-world scam scenarios.
💳 What Actually Helps You Get Money Back
Real recovery is less dramatic, free, and depends mostly on speed.
- Call your bank or card issuer immediately, using the number on the back of your card or on their official website — never a number someone gave you. Ask them to stop or recall the payment and flag the account. For cryptocurrency, contact the exchange you sent it from.
- Report it to IC3 yourself at ic3.gov — type the address directly rather than following a link. The FBI’s Recovery Asset Team works with banks to freeze fraudulent transfers, and in 2025 it acted on 3,900 incidents and froze about $679 million, a 58% success rate. It only works when reports come in quickly.
- Report to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov, and to your state attorney general. If the FTC ever does return money from a real case, the details are published at ftc.gov/refunds.
- If you’re 60 or older, the Department of Justice’s National Elder Fraud Hotline is 1-833-FRAUD-11 (1-833-372-8311).
- In the UK, report to Report Fraud at reportfraud.police.uk or on 0300 123 2040, and contact your bank straight away.
If you want legal help, find a lawyer yourself — through your state bar association’s directory, for example — rather than hiring one who approached you.
🛡️ After a Scam: Expect Them to Come Back
If you’ve been scammed once, assume your name, number and email are now on a list. A few steps make you a harder target:
- Treat every unexpected contact about the loss as suspicious, however official it looks. Hang up, and call the organisation back on a number you looked up yourself.
- Change any passwords you shared or reused, and turn on two-factor authentication for email and banking.
- Tell a family member or friend. Recovery scams depend on secrecy, and a second opinion breaks them.
- Reduce what’s findable about you. People-search sites publish phone numbers, addresses and relatives — useful to anyone building a convincing story. The Delete Yourself directory lists the opt-out pages for the major data brokers.
FAQ
Can the FBI get my money back?
Sometimes, through banks — the IC3 Recovery Asset Team freezes fraudulent transfers when a report arrives quickly. But the FBI does this at no cost, doesn’t call you to offer it, and never asks for a fee. Report at ic3.gov and contact your bank at once.
Will IC3 ever contact me?
The FBI says IC3 does not directly contact people by phone, email, social media or chat, has no social media presence, and never asks you to pay to recover money.
Are any fund recovery companies legitimate?
Be extremely cautious. The FBI and FTC warnings describe fake firms and fake lawyers, and the FTC’s advice is simple: don’t trust anyone who contacts you claiming they can recover lost money for a fee. If you want legal help, choose a lawyer yourself and verify them independently.
How did the scammer know exactly how much I lost?
Victim details get shared and sold, sometimes by the original scammers, and fake complaint forms collect them directly. Knowing your loss is not proof that someone is official.
I already paid a recovery scammer. What now?
Treat it exactly like the first scam: call your bank or the payment provider right away, report to IC3 and the FTC, and don’t send anything more — even if they promise the next payment is the last.
The Short Version
After a scam, the most dangerous message is the one promising to undo it. Real help — your bank, IC3, the FTC — is free and starts with you contacting them, not the other way round. Anyone who reaches out first and asks for a fee is running the second half of the same con.
For a deeper guide to AI-powered scams — voice clones, deepfake videos and the tactics behind them — see the ExamineIP books, including Don’t Get Scammed by AI.
Sources
- FBI — 2025 IC3 Annual Report (recovery scams, Recovery Asset Team figures)
- FBI IC3 — FBI Warns of Scammers Impersonating the IC3 (20 July 2026)
- FBI IC3 — Fictitious Law Firms Targeting Cryptocurrency Scam Victims (13 August 2025)
- FTC — Have you lost money to a scam? Watch for scammers who say they can help
- FTC — Refund and Recovery Scams