Crypto scam reporting: where to report it and what happens next

Report it today, even though it probably won't get your money back. Both halves of that sentence are true, and you need both of them.

To report a crypto scam in the United States, you file at the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (ic3.gov), report it to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov, contact the exchange you sent the funds from through its official support channel the same day, and file a police report with your local department. Those four steps cost nothing and take under an hour.

Now, I've sat with a lot of folks on the day they realized what happened. So here's the straight version of what reporting does, what it doesn't do, and the one report almost everybody skips that matters the most.

So who's this for? It's for the person who's done arguing with the "account manager" and wants to do the right next thing without paying anyone. And if you're still hoping a report triggers some agency to wire the money back... I'd rather you hear the truth from me than from a "recovery firm."

How do you report a crypto scam, step by step?

In this order, because the first one is time-sensitive and the rest are not.

1. The exchange you sent from, today. If you bought the crypto on a regulated exchange and sent it to the scammer's address, contact that exchange's support through its own app or help site and give them the transaction IDs and the receiving address. If any funds landed on an exchange that verifies identity, that exchange can freeze the account. This is the only step that has ever returned money to people I know, and it only works when it's fast.
2. The FBI, at ic3.gov. The Internet Crime Complaint Center is where federal cases get built. So include every wallet address, transaction hash, phone number, username, website and date you have, and attach your screenshots.
3. The FTC, at reportfraud.ftc.gov. The FTC doesn't resolve individual cases, but its database is what regulators and law enforcement use to see patterns and shut operations down.
4. Your local police. A police report number is the document your accountant, your bank and sometimes the exchange will ask you for. You can walk in or file online, and it takes about ten minutes.
5. The CFTC or SEC, depending on the pitch. Anything sold as futures, forex, options or "trading signals" goes to the CFTC, and anything sold as a token offering or an investment contract goes to the SEC.
6. Your state attorney general. Every state has a consumer protection complaint form. Just search your state's name plus "attorney general complaint."

Now here's the one almost everybody skips, and it's the exchange, same day. People spend the first week screaming at the WhatsApp account and the second week googling recovery agents, and by the time they finally call the exchange, the funds have moved through three wallets and been cashed out. So make that call first.

What does reporting a crypto scam actually get you?

Let me be straight with you, because I'd rather be honest than comforting.

On its own, a report rarely produces anything you can see. The scammer is a wallet address, not a name, and that address isn't tied to an identity. Even when the FBI can trace it, most of these operations run from outside US jurisdiction. And in more than six years of these conversations, I've never personally watched a report produce a refund.

So why bother? Three reasons. First, there's the exchange freeze I described above, which is real and depends entirely on speed. Second, there's the pattern. Your report is one data point, but clusters of reports are how platforms get named, domains get seized and phone numbers get killed. Most of the numbers I tried calling for the Coinbase text video were already dead by the time I dialed, and numbers don't die on their own. And third, there's the paperwork. The police report and the IC3 confirmation are what you'll need for a tax write-off, which is the only "recovery" most people ever get.

So no, a report won't undo it. But a report is how you stop being alone with it.

Do you need a crypto scam lawyer?

Sometimes. Rarely. And never one who found you.

A lawyer earns their fee in exactly one situation, and that's a large amount with evidence that the funds reached a regulated exchange, where a court order can compel a freeze or a return. If that's you, find a licensed attorney through your state bar, sign a written engagement agreement, and expect to pay in dollars, never in crypto.

But if the "law firm" messaged you first, found you in a victims' group, or promises you a recovery percentage, it's not a law firm. In June 2024 the FBI warned specifically about fictitious law firms targeting crypto scam victims. Same scam, better letterhead. So read legitimate crypto recovery companies before you sign anything.

How do you know it's a scam and not a delay?

Because people ask me this right before they pay the "withdrawal tax."

Friction on a withdrawal is a scam almost every time. Now, there are two legitimate exceptions, and they're both boring. One is a two-factor confirmation on a withdrawal, where the exchange asks you to approve it from your own device. The other is a hold on a brand-new account's bank deposit, usually a few business days. And neither one of those asks you for more money.

Everything else is the squeeze. Taxes before withdrawal. A verification deposit. An upgrade to unlock your balance. A fee to release your own funds. No legitimate platform on earth asks you to send money in order to send money out, so the moment that request shows up, stop arguing, stop paying, and start the list above.

What should you save before you report?

Everything, and save it before the account disappears, because scammers delete chats and take down sites the moment they sense you've caught on.

• Screenshots of every message, including the first contact and the "withdrawal fee" requests
• Every wallet address you sent to and every transaction hash
• The platform's URL, login page and any "dashboard" showing your supposed balance
• Phone numbers, usernames, email addresses and profile links
• Dates: first contact, each deposit, the first failed withdrawal

And write down how it started while it's still fresh, because in a week you'll remember less than you think.

What this page doesn't cover

Reporting outside the United States goes to your national fraud unit (Action Fraud in the UK, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre in Canada, Scamwatch in Australia) and your financial regulator. The shape is the same, but the forms are different. Tax treatment of a scam loss depends on your situation and your accountant, and this page is not tax advice. And none of this is legal advice either.

Where this fits

The scam you're reporting is almost always one of two mechanisms: a fake platform, or a recovery phrase somebody else generated. The platform version, and the "have you heard of this platform?" tell that would have caught it, is in crypto investment scam. What happens when the "recovery agent" calls next week is in legitimate crypto recovery companies. And the four questions that stop the next one are in how to spot a crypto scam.

Once the reports are filed, there's one more thing to do, and it's the one that actually changes what happens next: a one-day audit of what happened and why. That's where new members who got scammed first start with us: after a crypto scam, the way back.

So here's your job today. Call the exchange, file at ic3.gov, and tell one person you trust. Then stop sending money to anyone, for any reason. That's the whole list.

This is education, not legal, tax or financial advice.