What it means
A recovery scam offers to retrieve money or cryptocurrency lost in another fraud, often for an upfront fee or new account access. Scammers may know dates, amounts or names from stolen or publicly shared information, making the offer feel unusually credible.
A real-world example
A 'forensic agent' sends a dashboard showing your coins located but asks for a tax payment to release them. Paying that fee usually adds a second loss rather than unlocking a genuine refund.
What to do
Stop contact, preserve messages, and deal directly with the original payment provider's official dispute process. Report the new approach as a separate incident.
The distinction that matters
Even legitimate disputes cannot promise success. A newly created website with a government seal is not an official case portal; find the agency independently. FTC warns that unsolicited recovery offers for a fee are a hallmark of this fraud.
FTC recovery scam explanation
