Is crypto recovery legit? How to spot a recovery scam

Very. The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) recorded $11.366 billion in cryptocurrency-related losses in 2025 across 181,565 complaints. Recovery scams, where fraudsters pose as law firms, government officials or the IC3 itself to take more money from people who have already lost funds, accounted for 10,516 complaints and $1.4 billion in losses.

The CFTC warns that fraud victims are often hit again by fraud-recovery schemes, frequently run by the same criminal networks. The FTC notes that scammers buy lists of past victims so they know who to call.

These come from the FBI, FTC and CFTC warnings listed under Sources. Any one of them is reason to stop.

• —They contacted you first, by phone, text, email, social media or a comment on your post.
• —They promise or “guarantee” to get your money back, or give you a date.
• —They want an upfront “retainer”, “processing”, “release” or “tax” fee before funds are returned.
• —They ask to be paid in cryptocurrency or gift cards.
• —They claim to work with the FBI, the IC3, a regulator or an “international” agency. The IC3 says it does not work with any non-law-enforcement entity, such as law firms or crypto services, to recover funds, and will never contact you directly for information or money.
• —They already know your transaction amounts and dates. Scammers reuse details from the original scam to look credible.
• —They move you into WhatsApp group chats with “bank processors” or “attorneys”.
• —They won't appear on a video call or show credentials you can check independently.
• —They ask for your seed phrase, private keys or wallet password. No legitimate tracer needs them.
• —They say they can “hack back” or reverse the transaction. Crypto transactions can't be reversed.

Blockchain transactions are public, so a trained examiner can follow stolen funds from your wallet through every hop and identify where they ended up. That trace is evidence, not a recovery.

Getting money back depends on the funds reaching someone with the legal power to act on it. Binance, for example, says it cannot freeze a user's assets without an official freezing order from law enforcement or a court. Tether freezes USDT following appropriate legal proceedings, working with law enforcement, and Circle may freeze USDC when it receives a legal order from a valid government authority. A tracing report gives police, lawyers and those compliance teams something specific to act on.

Often the honest answer is that the money is out of reach. Immunefi found that only 7.7% of the $1.5 billion lost to crypto hacks and frauds in 2024 was recovered. A legitimate firm will tell you that before you pay.

It's a fair question, because the FTC specifically warns about paying upfront to recover money. The difference is what the fee buys. Our fixed fee pays for a defined deliverable, a forensic report, and never for a promise of recovery. The price is fixed at intake. You pay half to open the file and half on delivery, and if the first 48 hours of tracing show nothing actionable we stop and refund the balance.

If your loss is above $50,000 and the trace shows funds at a known exchange, you can choose the success-fee option instead: nothing upfront, and 15% only of funds actually returned to you. Either way, the intake review is free, and we never ask for keys or seed phrases.

• —Search the firm's name with “scam” and “complaints”, and check with your state attorney general.
• —If anyone claims a government connection, call your local FBI field office to verify it.
• —Ask for a video call and identity you can verify independently.
• —Get the scope, the price and exactly what you will receive in writing before paying anything.
• —Never pay in gift cards, and treat requests for crypto payment as a warning sign.
• —Never share your seed phrase, private keys or remote access to your device.
• —Report any recovery-scam approach to the IC3, ReportFraud.ftc.gov or, in the UK, Report Fraud.

Apply every one of these checks to us too.