What should I do if I sent money to a scammer?
Short answer
Contact the bank, card issuer or payment service you used immediately and ask them to stop or reverse the payment, then report the scam to the police or your national fraud service. Speed matters, because funds are often moved within hours.
The details
Card payments can often be disputed. Bank transfers, gift cards and cryptocurrency are much harder to recover, which is why scammers ask for them. Keep every message, receipt and transaction ID, as your bank and the police will ask for them.
Expect follow-up "recovery" scams: people who contact you promising to get your money back for a fee are very often the same criminals or their partners.
What to do
- Call your bank or payment provider now.
- Report to the police or national fraud reporting service.
- Save screenshots, receipts and the scammer’s details.
- Ignore anyone offering paid money-recovery services.
Sources
Related questions
- Where do I report a phishing email or scam text?
- How can I tell if an email is a phishing attempt?
- What should I do if I clicked a phishing link?
- How do I know if a package delivery text is a scam?
- What is smishing and how is it different from phishing?
- How do I protect myself from phone call scams (vishing)?
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