Report a Crypto Scam

File at the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov as soon as possible. Add a report to ReportFraud.ftc.gov for FTC tracking. If the scam involved an investment platform or fake broker, also file a tip at sec.gov/tcr or cftc.gov/complaint. Local police can take a report too, but federal channels move faster on crypto.

Sometimes — but only if you act within hours. If the funds land at a US or EU exchange that cooperates with law enforcement, a fast freeze request can stop the withdrawal. After the funds hit a mixer, cross-chain bridge, or non-cooperating exchange, recovery is almost never possible. Speed is the single biggest factor.

Almost every service advertising recovery on Google, X, Telegram, or via cold DM is itself a scam targeting people who just lost money. Real forensic firms — Chainalysis, TRM Labs, Elliptic — work with law enforcement and exchanges, not retail victims. If someone reaches out unsolicited and asks for an upfront fee or your recovery phrase, they are stealing from you a second time.

Use your country's national reporting body. UK: actionfraud.police.uk. Canada: Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at antifraudcentre.ca. Australia: scamwatch.gov.au. Most national bodies share data through Interpol's cybercrime channels. Also notify the receiving exchange's compliance team directly — most major exchanges accept reports from any jurisdiction.

It depends on whether the crypto was held for investment or personal use. Through tax year 2025, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act blocks most personal theft loss deductions. Recent IRS guidance has clarified that investment-motivated crypto theft losses — including pig butchering — can sometimes qualify as §165 theft losses with proper documentation. The rules are scheduled to broaden again starting tax year 2026 unless Congress extends TCJA. Work with a crypto-aware CPA before claiming anything.

No — services advertising 'free crypto recovery' on Google, YouTube, Telegram, or via cold DM are virtually all scams. The typical pattern is to charge a large upfront 'investigation fee' or to ask for your private key or recovery phrase — then take what remains of your funds. Legitimate forensic firms like Chainalysis and TRM Labs work with law enforcement and major exchanges, not individual retail victims, and they do not solicit through ads or DMs. If anyone contacts you offering to recover your stolen crypto — especially for free — treat it as a second scam targeting the same victim.

No. Crypto recovery has no local, storefront, or 'near me' industry. The blockchain does not route through a city. No local business can retrieve stolen or lost funds any faster than one across the country, or in another country entirely. Scammers specifically target 'near me' searches with paid ads and fake local listings, because that phrasing signals someone actively looking for help and ready to pay for it. A search result claiming a local office or an in-person consultation for crypto recovery is a warning sign. The only legitimate next step is the one covered above: file at ic3.gov and contact the receiving exchange directly.

Check for the pattern that shows up in nearly every fake one: a guaranteed return, pressure to move funds off a regulated platform, and no verifiable business registration. A legitimate reviewer discloses paid promotions, links to a real company with a checkable address, and never asks to hold your funds or your seed phrase directly. Cross-check any platform the channel promotes against your own regulator's registry before sending money. In the US that's the SEC's Investment Adviser Public Disclosure search or FINRA's BrokerCheck; in the UK it's the FCA register. Both this pattern and the recovery-service scams covered above rely on the same setup: build trust fast through urgency or a big promised number, then ask for money or access before anyone checks the claim against a real registry.