The short answer
If someone contacted you after a crypto scam and offered to get your money back for a fee, that is almost always a second scam run by the same network or one that bought your details. The blockchain transaction is final, no one can reverse it for an up-front fee, and the FBI has seized websites built to pose as recovery firms. The single rule that protects you: never pay an up-front fee to recover lost funds.
How the recovery scam works
After a successful scam, your contact details land on a list sold among fraud networks. Within days or weeks you hear from a “recovery agent,” a fake “blockchain investigator,” an “exchange compliance officer,” or even someone posing as law enforcement. They know details about your loss because their network wrote your file. In the FBI's words, recovery-scheme fraudsters “charge an up-front fee and either cease communication with the victim after receiving an initial deposit or produce an incomplete or inaccurate tracing report and request additional fees.”
The honest odds
Be clear-eyed about recovery. Industry analysis of stolen crypto finds that only a tiny share is ever returned — on the order of about $1 recovered for every $65 stolen. The cases that do work almost always involve a regulated exchange that can freeze a receiving account quickly, a police report, and an FBI IC3 complaint filed fast — not a private operator who found you online.
What to do instead
- Report it for free. File with the FBI at ic3.gov and the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov.
- Tell the exchange. If a regulated U.S. exchange touched the funds, contact its fraud team immediately — speed is the only thing that occasionally enables a freeze.
- Preserve everything. Wallet addresses, transaction hashes, screenshots, and every message. These are what any legitimate investigation or law-enforcement case needs.
- Block the “recovery” contact.Do not send the fee. Do not send “taxes” or “unlock” payments.
When a real investigator helps
A credentialed forensic examiner cannot guarantee recovery, but can trace wallet infrastructure for attribution, preserve court-admissible evidence, and support a law- enforcement or civil filing — and will tell you honestly when recovery is not realistic. If your loss is large or headed to court, crypto scam recoveryexplains what that actually involves. A reputable firm never asks for an up-front fee with a promise to “get it all back.”
See also: Scam & Fraud Recovery Help — the hub that maps every scam type and the free reporting steps.
Sources
- FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), Public Service Announcement I-081123-PSA — fraudulent schemes targeting victims of cryptocurrency investment scams, 2023. https://www.ic3.gov/PSA/2023/PSA230811
- FBI San Diego Field Office, FBI San Diego — Seizes Cryptocurrency Recovery Websites. https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/sandiego/news/fbi-san-diego-seizes-cryptocurrency-recovery-websites
- Chainalysis, Crypto Crime Report — stolen funds and recovery rates, 2026. https://www.chainalysis.com/blog/crypto-hacking-stolen-funds-2026/
- FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), File a Complaint. https://www.ic3.gov/
