If someone contacts you offering to get back crypto you have lost, in return for a fee paid upfront, treat it as a likely second fraud. The FCA says recovery room scams target people who have already been scammed or had failed investments, demand fees described as tax, solicitor or administrative charges, and can leave victims with losses greater than the first. Genuine routes do exist: report to the police through Report Fraud, tell your bank straight away, use a regulated firm’s complaints process, and go to the Financial Ombudsman Service only where a regulated activity is involved.
How crypto recovery scams work
The FCA’s page on recovery room scams, updated on 19 January 2026, describes the pattern. Fraudsters approach people who have lost money and offer to recover it for an upfront fee. There is usually no explanation of how the money will come back, or a false one, and the caller may claim to be the FCA or to work with the government, the police or another regulator. The scam typically involves cold calls, high-pressure tactics and fees called a tax, solicitor’s fee or administrative fee.
The people behind the first scam may run the recovery room themselves, contacting the victim again under a different name, or sell the victim’s details to others. The FCA says recovery rooms often run professional-looking websites, claim a UK presence they do not have, and falsely claim to have recovered money for other victims. They generally use webmail addresses, and the FCA notes that it never contacts consumers that way; nor does the government, law enforcement or law firms.
Crypto victims are a natural target. The FCA’s page on crypto investment scams warns that people who have already invested in a scam may be targeted again or have their details sold, and that the follow-up may be an offer to get money back, or to buy back the investment, after a fee is paid.
The public record
Impersonation of official bodies is common. In September 2024 the Insolvency Service said there had been more than 300 complaints that year from members of the public about fraudsters impersonating it and its staff, contacting people who had lost money in failed investments and claiming the agency had authorised third-party companies to recover it. Victims were asked for upfront fees described as refundable, given bank details for unconnected third parties and told to lie to their banks if a transfer was queried. The agency said it had shut down 30 scammer telephone numbers and 24 email addresses and websites in the previous 12 months.
The pattern is not new. In 2022 the Insolvency Service warned investors in Global Wine Exchange, put into compulsory liquidation in March 2022 after the courts determined that it had abused £1.9 million of investors’ funds, that recovery room scammers posing as a trading standards body were contacting them. It said the Official Receiver will never ask for an upfront fee to return an investment and, as liquidator, is the only person who can distribute available funds.
Warning signs
- You are contacted out of the blue about money you lost, by phone, email, social media or letter.
- The caller knows details of your loss. The FCA says reports of fraud can only be shared between law enforcement agencies and cannot be passed to a private recovery business.
- You are asked to pay before anything is recovered, whether the charge is called a fee, a tax, a deposit or a release charge.
- The firm claims to act for the FCA, the police, the government, a court or the Insolvency Service. The Insolvency Service says it never authorises other companies to recover a lost investment for an upfront fee and never asks for payment details by WhatsApp.
- Emails come from a webmail account, or from an address that imitates an official one.
- You are pressed to act quickly, keep the approach secret or mislead your bank about why you are paying.
- The firm offers to recover crypto using technical methods it will not explain, or asks for your wallet keys, passwords or remote access to your device.
What the authorities say
| Body | What it says |
|---|---|
| Financial Conduct Authority | Recovery services are usually offered by claims management companies, which must be FCA-authorised to advertise or carry out those services in the UK. Check the firm on the FCA Firm Checker and use only the contact details listed there. Report suspected scams on 0800 111 6768. |
| Insolvency Service | It will never randomly ask for money, never authorise a company to recover a lost investment for an upfront fee, and a genuine insolvency practitioner will never ask for money upfront. Check doubtful contact on 0300 678 0015. |
| Report Fraud (City of London Police) | The national reporting service for fraud and cyber crime in England, Wales and Northern Ireland since 4 December 2025, replacing Action Fraud. Report online or on 0300 123 2040. In Scotland, report to Police Scotland on 101. |
Sources: FCA; Insolvency Service; GOV.UK and Report Fraud.
Where to report
- Your bank or payment provider, immediately. The sooner it knows, the better the chance of stopping or tracing a payment.
- Report Fraud. Since 4 December 2025, City of London Police’s Report Fraud service has replaced Action Fraud as the national reporting platform; the phone number, 0300 123 2040, is unchanged. Scottish residents should call Police Scotland on 101, as the Report Fraud site advises.
- The FCA, if the firm claims to be authorised, copies an authorised firm or is promoting financial services. The FCA’s scam guidance asks people to call it on 0800 111 6768 and to contact Report Fraud for anything it does not regulate or where money has been lost.
- The Insolvency Service, if someone is using its name or the name of an Official Receiver.
What real recovery routes exist
None of these is certain, and none requires you to pay a stranger upfront.
The police
A report to Report Fraud, or to Police Scotland, puts the crime on record and lets police link it to other cases. It does not guarantee an investigation or the return of funds.
Your bank
If you were tricked into sending money by bank transfer, the Payment Systems Regulator’s reimbursement protections apply to Faster Payments and CHAPS transfers between UK accounts made on or after 7 October 2024. The maximum claim is £85,000, banks may apply an excess of up to £100, and you should report within 13 months of the payment. You will not be reimbursed if you were complicit or grossly negligent, a high bar that does not apply to vulnerable customers. Card, cash and cheque payments have their own protections. Ask your bank how these rules apply to your case, including where money passed through a crypto platform.
The firm’s own complaints process
If you dealt with a real firm, such as a platform that froze or lost your funds, complain to it in writing first. Where the firm is FCA-authorised and the problem involves a regulated activity, you can take an unresolved complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Most crypto activity is not yet regulated in the UK, so the FCA says crypto investors are unlikely to have access to the ombudsman or to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
The Financial Ombudsman Service, about your bank
The ombudsman cannot solve the crime, but it can investigate how your bank or payment provider handled a fraud and, if it treated you unfairly, tell it to put you back where you would have been. For complaints referred on or after 1 April 2026 about events since 1 April 2019, its award limit is £455,000.
Liquidators
Where a firm has been wound up, deal only with the appointed liquidator, contacted through official channels. In a compulsory liquidation this can be the Official Receiver, who the Insolvency Service says will never ask for an upfront fee to return an investment.
If you have already paid a recovery firm
Stop paying, whatever the firm says about losing what you have already sent. Call your bank, report to Report Fraud and keep every email, message and receipt. Expect further approaches: the FCA warns that fraudsters may target victims again or sell their details. Our guides to spotting an investment scam and to UK crypto rules set out the checks to run before dealing with any crypto firm. Investors in other unregulated assets have been targeted the same way, as the Global Wine Exchange case shows; our report on whisky casks covers another such market.
