A "fund recovery" service contacts you after you were already scammed
After you've lost money to a scam, you're contacted by a "recovery agent," "law firm," or "crypto recovery specialist" claiming they can get your money back — for an upfront fee. They are usually the same scammers (or partners) using lists of known victims.
Also known as: recovery room scam, secondary fraud, crypto fund recovery scam
What to do right now
- 1 Treat any unsolicited 'recovery' offer as a second scam targeting you
- 2 The FBI, FTC, and IC3 do not charge fees and do not refer victims to private recovery services. Period
- 3 If a real attorney would actually take your case on contingency, they would not need upfront fees from you
- 4 Block the caller and add the number to your phone's spam list
- 5 Report the recovery scam itself: it is itself a federal crime
- 6 If you installed any 'support' or 'server' or 'refund app' or remote-access app at the scammer's request (AnyDesk, TeamViewer, Quick Support, etc.), run free SeraphSecure (https://www.seraphsecure.com) to detect and remove it.
- 7 Report to the FTC at https://reportfraud.ftc.gov and the FBI's IC3 at https://www.ic3.gov.
Was remote-access software installed?
If a scammer asked you to install AnyDesk, TeamViewer, Quick Support, or any remote-access app, your device may still be compromised.
Run SeraphSecure to detect and remove it →Red flags
- ⚠ They contact you out of the blue and seem to know exactly what scam you fell for
- ⚠ They guarantee recovery — no legitimate service does this
- ⚠ Fees are required upfront, often by gift card, wire, or crypto
- ⚠ They claim to work with the FBI, FTC, IC3, or a court — none of those organizations endorse private recovery agents
- ⚠ Repeat victimization — victim lists are sold among scammers
If you were scammed once, your name and contact may now be on lists sold among scammer networks. Recovery scams are the standard follow-up. They exploit the desperation of victims to extract a second round of money — sometimes more than the original loss.
The legitimate path: report your original scam to the FTC and IC3. Tell your bank. If you sent crypto, file at IC3 within 24-72 hours; the FBI’s Financial Fraud Kill Chain has occasionally recovered funds, but it does not work through paid agents. Anyone calling you with a fee is the next scam.