If you've been scammed, act in this order: (1) stop all contact and stop sending money, including any "fee" to release funds; (2) contact your bank, card issuer, or payment platform immediately to try to freeze or reverse the transfer; (3) preserve all evidence — messages, profiles, receipts, and account details — before deleting anything; (4) report to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov and the FBI's IC3 at ic3.gov, and file a local police report; (5) secure your accounts and identity; and (6) refuse any "recovery" offer that charges an upfront fee, which is a second scam targeting victims. Speed matters most in the first hours.

Discovering you’ve been defrauded is disorienting, and shame makes many people freeze or stay silent — which is exactly what fraud depends on. What you do in the first hours and days genuinely affects how much you can recover and how well you’re protected going forward. Work through these steps in order. None of this is your fault, and asking for help is the strong move, not the weak one.

Step 1: Stop the bleeding

Cut off contact and stop sending money — immediately and completely. This includes any request framed as the solution: a “release fee,” “tax,” “insurance,” or payment supposedly required to unlock or return your funds. That is never real. Every additional payment is more loss, not recovery.

If you’ve shared banking logins, card numbers, or remote access to your device, treat those as compromised and move to Step 5 quickly.

Step 2: Contact your bank or payment provider now

Speed is everything here. Call your bank, card issuer, or the payment/crypto platform as soon as you can and tell them you’ve been defrauded. Ask them to:

  • Freeze or reverse the transaction if it’s still pending
  • Open a dispute or chargeback, especially for credit-card payments
  • Flag your account for fraud monitoring

Recovery odds depend heavily on payment method. Credit cards and some bank transfers offer dispute and reversal windows. Wire transfers, gift cards, peer-to-peer payment apps, and cryptocurrency are far harder to claw back — but report them anyway, because occasionally a fast report allows a freeze before funds move on.

Step 3: Preserve the evidence

Before you delete the app, block the profile, or clear the chat, save everything. Investigators and banks can only work with what you keep:

  • Full message histories and the person’s profile(s) — screenshot them
  • Phone numbers, email addresses, and usernames they used
  • Payment records — receipts, transaction IDs, wallet addresses, confirmation emails
  • Any names, photos, documents, or links they sent
  • The platform and dates where you met and communicated

Store copies somewhere safe. The urge to erase all trace of a painful experience is natural, but do it after you’ve preserved a complete record.

Step 4: Report to the right places

Reporting isn’t just procedural — it feeds law-enforcement pattern analysis and is often required for bank disputes. In the United States:

  • FTC — reportfraud.ftc.gov, the central U.S. fraud-reporting hub
  • FBI IC3 — ic3.gov, for internet-enabled crime, including romance and investment scams
  • Your bank and the platform where the scam occurred (dating app, social network, exchange)
  • Local police — a report number supports disputes, insurance, and any civil action
  • identitytheft.gov — if any personal or financial identifiers were exposed

If the scam involved impersonation of a service member, see our guide on military romance scams for the additional reporting channel.

Step 5: Secure your accounts and identity

If you shared any credentials or personal information, lock things down:

  • Change passwords on affected accounts and enable two-factor authentication
  • Contact the credit bureaus to place a fraud alert or credit freeze if identifiers were exposed
  • Watch statements closely for unfamiliar activity over the following months
  • Scan your device if you granted remote access or installed anything they sent

Step 6: Beware the recovery scam — the second wave

This step protects you when you’re most vulnerable. People who’ve been scammed are frequently targeted a second time by fraudsters posing as investigators, lawyers, government officials, or “fund recovery specialists” who promise to get your money back — for an upfront fee, tax, or deposit.

It is the same fraud wearing a rescuer’s mask. No legitimate service guarantees recovery or demands payment in advance. Be especially wary of anyone who contacts you out of the blue claiming they can recover your loss, or who somehow already knows you were scammed. When in doubt, verify the offer independently before engaging, and never pay to get paid.

Looking forward

Once the immediate response is handled, two things help you move on: understanding how the scam worked so it can’t happen again, and — where it matters — establishing who was actually behind it. Our guides on verifying someone you met online and pig butchering investment fraud explain the mechanics so you can recognize the pattern instantly next time.

A licensed investigator can also help identify the person behind a scam, document findings in a form useful to law enforcement or a civil claim, and — importantly — tell you whether a “recovery” offer you’ve received is itself a fraud. What a legitimate investigator will never do is guarantee your money back for a fee paid upfront. That promise is the tell. Getting clear, honest answers is what lets you close the chapter and protect yourself from here.