# Why a crypto recovery offer asks for a fee first

How fake lawyers, agencies and recovery firms find people who lost crypto, what US and UK authorities say they never do, and where to report.

*https://cryptomarkets.tools/guides/why-a-crypto-recovery-offer-asks-for-a-fee · background to On-chain Analytics Platforms*

**Answer:** An offer to recover lost crypto for a fee follows a pattern the FBI, the FTC and the FCA all describe: someone posing as a lawyer, an agency or a regulator who already knows about your loss. US law enforcement does not charge victims, no law firm is an officially authorised partner of a US agency, and the FCA says the original scammers may run the recovery operation themselves. IC3 logged 10,516 recovery-scam complaints in 2025.

## How it works

A recovery offer starts with a list. Someone who lost money to a crypto investment scheme has
already been identified as a person who sends money to strangers, and that information does not
disappear when the first scheme ends. The FCA's page on
[recovery room scams](https://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/recovery-room-scams) says "the people behind
the original scam may operate the recovery room and contact the victim again pretending to be from a
different firm or sell on their details to other recovery rooms."

The approach is built to look official. The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center has described it
in two public service announcements. In
[June 2024](https://www.ic3.gov/PSA/2024/PSA240624) it warned of "fraudsters posing as lawyers
representing fictitious law firms" who claimed to have received information on the victim's case
"from the FBI, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), or other government agency." Its
[August 2025 update](https://www.ic3.gov/PSA/2025/PSA250813) adds the techniques it was then seeing:

- impersonating real lawyers and law firms, with "fictitious documents with a legitimate law firm
  insignia or letterhead";
- claiming to be "official authorized partners" of US and foreign government or regulatory bodies;
- citing agencies that do not exist, "such as the International Financial Trading Commission
  (INTFTC)";
- telling the victim they are "on a government-affiliated list of scam victims" and can recover
  their money "through legal channels";
- asking to be paid "in cryptocurrency or prepaid gift cards", or saying that "payment of bank fees
  is required to verify identity and ownership to withdraw funds."

The last step is always the same: a payment before anything is returned. It may be called a legal
fee, a tax, a bank fee or a verification charge. Whatever its name, it is the product.

## Claims a real agency never makes

Each of the following is a sentence from a US or UK authority, and each contradicts something a
recovery caller says.

- **On fees.** "Law enforcement does not charge victims a fee for investigating crimes" (FBI, 2024).
  "The US Government does not request payment for law enforcement services provided" (FBI, 2025).
- **On partners.** "There are no law firms which are officially authorized partners of US Government
  agencies" (FBI, 2025).
- **On refunds in general.** "Neither government agencies nor legitimate organizations will ever ask
  for money or financial info in exchange for help getting a refund", in the FTC's
  [consumer alert of 3 August 2026](https://consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts/2026/08/have-you-lost-money-scam-watch-scammers-who-say-they-can-help),
  which adds: "Anyone who does is a scammer."
- **On who is calling.** The FCA says recovery rooms may be "impersonating us or claiming to work with
  the Government, police or other regulator", and may "claim to have a UK presence when they don't."

The FBI does contact victims of crypto investment fraud, which is part of what makes the
impersonation work. Its Operation Level Up, according to the
[2025 IC3 annual report](https://www.ic3.gov/AnnualReport/Reports/2025_IC3Report.pdf), "identifies
victims of cryptocurrency investment fraud and notifies them of the scam"; it notified 3,780 people
in 2025, 78% of whom "were unaware they were being scammed". That contact is a warning to stop
paying. Nothing in the report describes it asking the victim for money, and the FBI's own advice is:
"If someone claims an affiliation with the FBI, contact your local FBI field office to confirm."

## Who may lawfully offer help

In the UK the line is a licence. The FCA says recovery rooms "claim to provide services usually
offered by claims management companies", and that "a firm must be authorised by us to advertise or
undertake these services in the UK." A firm offering to recover an investment loss that does not
appear as authorised on the FCA's register is, by the FCA's own account, not allowed to do it.

In the US there is no single register for recovery help, and the FBI's 2025 announcement offers
checks instead: "Request video verification or documentation or a photo of their law license. If this
cannot be readily provided, assume they are not legitimate." It also advises requiring "notarized
proofs of identity" before going further, and keeping records "including recordings of video chats of
all interactions." The FTC's rule of thumb on its
[refund and recovery scams page](https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/refund-and-recovery-scams) is
shorter: "Never pay upfront for a refund or help with a refund."

## What tracing can and cannot do

A public chain records where the coins went, and a recovery pitch often leads with that: a report, a
graph of addresses, a claim that the funds have been "located". Following transfers on a public
chain needs no special access. An explorer that attaches owner labels to addresses, such as
[Arkham](https://cryptomarkets.tools/tools/arkham), will show the same hops to anyone, and its labels are its own judgement
rather than a finding by any authority. The tools are listed under
[wallet tracking](https://cryptomarkets.tools/collections/wallet-tracking).

Seeing where funds went is not the same as getting them back. Getting them back depends on whoever
now holds them freezing them, which a private tracer cannot order. The IC3 report says its Recovery
Asset Team works "with financial institutions and FBI field offices to assist in the freezing of
funds", and that "time is of the essence"; the report's figures for that work are about bank
transfers, and it gives none for crypto. The FBI's 2024 announcement asks victims to include in their IC3 report the
transaction details, "to include cryptocurrency address". The addresses and transaction hashes you
can look up yourself are what belong in that report.

## What it costs

The 2025 IC3 annual report counts recovery scams among its cryptocurrency fraud trends: 10,516
complaints and $1.4 billion in losses for the year. People aged 60 and over filed 2,529 of those
complaints and reported $540.5 million. The report's own footnote matters for reading the figure:
"Losses may also include losses experienced from previous scams which prompted the contact with the
recovery company", so the total mixes the original loss with the fee taken afterwards.

The FBI's June 2024 announcement put a narrower number on the fake-law-firm variant: between February
2023 and February 2024, crypto scam victims "who were further exploited by fictitious law firms
reported losses totaling over $9.9 million".

The real cost is a second loss on top of the first, usually paid in a form that is hard to reverse.

## What you can do about it

**Pay nobody up front, under any name.** A fee, a tax, a deposit, a bank charge to "verify" a
withdrawal: the FBI, the FTC and the FCA all say the legitimate side of this never asks for one.
Payment requested in crypto or gift cards is one of the signs the FBI lists.

**Find the agency yourself.** If a caller names the FBI, a regulator or a court, look up that body's
contact details on its own official site and ask it directly. If the agency cannot be found on any
government site, the FBI's advice is to "double check whether such an agency exists."

**Report the original loss, free.** In the US, file at ic3.gov with the transaction details and the
crypto addresses involved, and report the scam to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and to your state
attorney general, as the FTC's alert advises. In the UK, the FCA says to report it to the FCA on
0800 111 6768 "and then contact Report Fraud".

**If you have already paid a recovery firm, stop.** The FCA's advice is to "end all contact
immediately and do not pay any money or provide any banking details." Report the second payment the
same way as the first; the FTC's refund and recovery page links to steps for trying to stop or
reverse a transaction.

**Check a UK firm's authorisation before you speak to it.** A firm offering to recover investment
losses in the UK has to be authorised by the FCA for that service. If it is not on the register, the
FCA has already said it may not offer the service.

**Gather the trail yourself.** The addresses, transaction hashes and dates from the original loss,
looked up on a public explorer, are what an IC3 or police report needs. Doing it yourself costs
nothing and hands the information to the only people who can ask for a freeze.

## Tools this bears on

- [Arkham](https://cryptomarkets.tools/tools/arkham.md) — Address explorer where wallets already carry a named owner and a confidence grade.

## FAQ

### Can a crypto recovery service get my stolen crypto back?

The FBI, the FTC and the FCA all warn about firms that contact victims and ask for a fee to recover lost funds, and the FTC says government agencies and legitimate organisations never ask for money to help you get a refund. Report the loss to IC3 in the US or to the FCA and Report Fraud in the UK, and do not pay anyone up front.

### Does the FBI contact crypto scam victims?

It can. The FBI's Operation Level Up contacts people it identifies as victims of cryptocurrency investment fraud to warn them, and notified 3,780 victims in 2025 according to the IC3 annual report. The FBI says US law enforcement does not charge victims a fee, so any caller asking for one is not acting for it; confirm through your local FBI field office.

### Is the International Financial Trading Commission real?

The FBI gives the International Financial Trading Commission as an example of a fictitious government or regulatory entity cited by fake recovery law firms, and advises checking whether any agency named to you actually exists.

### Is a crypto recovery firm in the UK regulated?

The FCA says recovery rooms claim to provide services usually offered by claims management companies, and that a firm must be authorised by the FCA to advertise or undertake those services in the UK. Check the firm on the FCA's register and call the FCA on 0800 111 6768 if in doubt.

## Sources

1. [Fictitious Law Firms Targeting Cryptocurrency Scam Victims Offering to Recover Funds (I-062424-PSA)](https://www.ic3.gov/PSA/2024/PSA240624) — Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internet Crime Complaint Center, 2024-06-24
2. [Fictitious Law Firms Targeting Cryptocurrency Scam Victims Combine Multiple Exploitation Tactics While Offering to Recover Funds (I-081325-PSA)](https://www.ic3.gov/PSA/2025/PSA250813) — Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internet Crime Complaint Center, 2025-08-13
3. [2025 IC3 Annual Report](https://www.ic3.gov/AnnualReport/Reports/2025_IC3Report.pdf) — Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internet Crime Complaint Center, read 2026-10-27
4. [Have you lost money to a scam? Watch out for scammers who say they can help](https://consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts/2026/08/have-you-lost-money-scam-watch-scammers-who-say-they-can-help) — Federal Trade Commission, 2026-08-03
5. [Refund and Recovery Scams](https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/refund-and-recovery-scams) — Federal Trade Commission, read 2026-10-27
6. [Recovery room scams](https://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/recovery-room-scams) — Financial Conduct Authority, 2026-01-19

*Last updated 2026-10-27. A reference page, corrected in place — not a dated post.*