What to Do If You’ve Been Scammed

The moment you realize you have been scammed is disorienting — a mix of shock, anger, and embarrassment. Take a breath. What you do in the next hours can limit the damage. Work through these steps in order.

1. Stop the bleeding

• If you sent money by card or bank, call your bank or card issuer right now and tell them it was fraud. Ask them to stop or reverse the transaction and freeze the card.
• If you sent a wire or payment app transfer, contact the provider immediately — speed matters, sometimes transfers can be halted.
• If you paid by gift card, call the card company; some can freeze the funds if they have not been drained yet.

2. Secure your accounts

If you shared any password, change it — and change it anywhere else you used the same one. Turn on two-factor authentication on your email and financial accounts. If you gave someone remote access to a device, disconnect it from the internet and run a full antivirus scan from a clean device.

3. Protect your identity

If you shared your Social Security number or other identifying details, consider placing a free fraud alert or credit freeze with the major credit bureaus. This makes it much harder for someone to open accounts in your name.

4. Report it

• File with the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
• If money was lost, file with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) at ic3.gov.
• Report the scammer’s phone number or website here so the next person is warned.

5. Watch for the follow-up scam

Scam victims are frequently targeted again by "recovery" scammers who promise — for a fee — to get your money back. Legitimate authorities never charge you to recover funds. Treat any such offer as a second scam.