Being scammed is disorienting, and the disorientation is part of how these operations work. What follows is a plan with a shape to it — what to do this week, what to do this month, and what to stop doing entirely.
Week one: contain and record
Stop every payment, however the request is framed. Move any remaining funds to a wallet the platform has never seen. Reset the passwords on your email and on any genuine exchange account, because the same credentials are often reused. Then export every conversation in full, save every transaction hash, and screenshot the platform while it is still online. Sites like these are taken down without notice, and the balance page showing what you were told you owned is frequently the first thing to go.
Know which pattern you are in
The remedy depends on the mechanism, so identify it honestly:
- Fake trading platform. A dashboard showing gains that were never real. The numbers were typed, not traded. Withdrawals are refused behind an endless series of fees.
- Clone firm. A site using the name, registration number or branding of a genuinely regulated company. The regulator’s register will show the real firm’s own contact details, which will not match the ones you were given.
- Social or romance investment. A relationship built over weeks or months on a messaging app, then an investment opportunity. Often called pig butchering.
- Phishing or wallet drain. A signature or seed phrase given away, after which funds left on their own.
- Broker withdrawal block. A real account with a real broker that will not release funds, which is a complaints and regulator matter rather than a fraud investigation.
Weeks two to four: report and escalate
File with your national fraud or police reporting service and keep the reference number. Report to the regulator in whichever country the platform claimed to be based, even if you doubt it was ever there — that is how warning lists get built. Contact the exchange that processed your outgoing payment, because funds occasionally sit unmoved long enough to be frozen. If any part of the payment chain touched a card or a bank transfer, raise it with your bank immediately and use the words chargeback or recall.
Documentation decides what is possible
Every route open to you — a bank dispute, a regulator complaint, a police file, a civil claim — depends on the same evidence pack. Assemble it once, properly: dates and amounts of every payment, transaction hashes and receiving addresses, the platform’s domain and any company details it claimed, the full chat history, and a plain timeline written in your own words. Keep it in one folder. You will be asked for it repeatedly.
Refuse the second scam
Victim data is traded. Recovery offers arrive within weeks, sometimes from people claiming to be regulators, lawyers or blockchain investigators. Three things disqualify an approach outright: they contacted you first, they want a fee before doing anything, and they guarantee an outcome. No honest firm guarantees the return of funds that have already moved across a blockchain.
Be clear about the odds
Recovery is realistic where fiat was involved and the dispute is raised quickly, or where funds are still sitting at a compliant exchange. It is much harder once crypto has been converted and routed through several wallets. Knowing which situation you are in is worth more than optimism, because it tells you where to spend your effort.
