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"We recovered your money": fund recovery scams that target scam victims

Updated October 16, 2026. By the AskBeforeYouSend editorial team (how we fact-check). Fact-checked against the official sources listed at the bottom.

Short answer: If someone contacts you offering to get back money you lost to a scam, especially for a fee, treat it as another scam. The FBI warns that criminals pose as FBI or IC3 staff, sometimes with fake social media profiles, AI-generated videos and spoofed IC3 websites, to target people who already lost money. IC3 says it will never ask for payment to recover lost funds and doesn't refer people to companies that charge for recovery.

Key facts

IC3 says it has no social media presence and never contacts people directly by phone, email, social media or chat.
Report only at www.ic3.gov. Type it yourself and skip "sponsored" search results (FBI).
IC3 will never ask for payment to recover lost funds, and won't refer you to a company that charges for it (FBI, Jul 2026).

What it looks like

Hello, I'm Special Agent Harris with the FBI's IC3 recovery unit. We have recovered $48,000 of the funds you lost. To release them, a 10% recovery fee must be paid in Bitcoin within 48 hours.

A made-up example of the pattern the FBI describes in its July 2026 warning.

How the scam works

After you lose money to a scam, someone reaches out by phone, email, social media or an ad.
They claim to be the FBI, IC3, a lawyer, or a recovery company, and say they found your money.
They ask for a fee, your bank details, or for you to fill in a form on a lookalike website.

Red flags

An unexpected offer to recover lost money
Any upfront fee, tax or "release" charge
An "FBI agent" on Facebook, Telegram or WhatsApp
A website that isn't exactly www.ic3.gov

What to do now

Don't pay and don't share bank details.
Report scams only at www.ic3.gov, typed into the address bar yourself.
Report fake profiles to the social media site.
If you already paid, tell your bank and report the new scam to IC3 and the FTC.

Never send money, gift cards, crypto or verification codes because of a call, text or message. Hang up and call the real number.

Check a message like this

Report it

Report to the FBI (IC3): Best if money was lost or it happened online. Have the scammer's name, phone, email, website and the full message ready.

Report to the FTC: For any scam, even if you didn't lose money. Takes about 10 minutes.

Call the number on the back of your card

Questions

Will the FBI contact me after I file an IC3 report?

IC3 says it never contacts people directly. If more information is needed, FBI employees from a local field office or other law enforcement officers may reach out, and they won't ask for a fee.

Sources

Example messages are made up to show the pattern unless we say otherwise. Phone numbers in examples use the fictional 555 range.

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