What to Do After You’ve Been Scammed

1. Contact Your Bank or Payment Provider

If money has moved, or if you think a scammer has gained access to an account, contact your financial institution immediately.

Depending on how the payment was made and how quickly you report it, the bank or payment provider may be able to stop, reverse or investigate the transaction. The FTC recommends contacting the company used to send the money and asking whether recovery is possible. Read the FTC guidance.

Start here:

• Contact your bank or payment provider.
• Report unauthorized transactions immediately.
• Ask whether a payment can be stopped, recalled or reversed.
• Review recent account activity for anything else you do not recognize.

2. Secure Compromised Accounts and Information

Next, identify what the scammer may have obtained. If you shared a password, change it immediately and update any other account where you reused it. If you disclosed personal information such as your Social Security number, consider additional identity-theft precautions.

IdentityTheft.gov provides individualized recovery plans and guidance for fraud alerts and credit freezes.

If a scammer accessed your computer or phone remotely, disconnect the device from the internet and stop using it for banking or other sensitive activity until you are confident the unauthorized access has been removed.

3. Preserve the Evidence

Save information before deleting messages or blocking contacts.

Keep:

• emails, texts and screenshots;
• phone numbers and email addresses;
• transaction dates and amounts;
• receiving account or cryptocurrency information; and
• notes about what the scammer said or asked you to do.

These details may be useful to your financial institution, law enforcement or other organizations involved in the recovery process.

Lost Your Wallet? Here’s One Step Many People Forget

A stolen purse, a data breach, missing mail, or discovering that your personal information has been exposed can all raise the same question: What should you do if your identity has been compromised?

Learn More

4. Report the Fraud

The right reporting channel depends on what happened.

• For cyber-enabled fraud, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center accepts reports and asks victims to retain transaction and communication details.
• For identity theft, IdentityTheft.gov can help create a recovery plan based on the information that was exposed.

Reporting may not guarantee recovery, but it can help document the incident and support broader fraud investigations.

5. Continue Monitoring

Recovery does not necessarily end when the initial transaction is addressed. Continue reviewing bank and credit-card activity for unfamiliar transactions. If personal identifying information was exposed, review your credit reports and consider a credit freeze, which can make it harder for someone to open a new account in your name.

Fraud Prevention Resource Center

For additional fraud-prevention guidance and helpful resources, visit TRB's Fraud Prevention Resource Center.

Learn More