Many people who have been scammed have absolutely no idea what to do next. Whom do you call? What do you do? Should you just forget about it and hope it never happens again?
The first step — and maybe this is less obvious than you’d think — is to stop contact with the scammer. Don’t pay another dime to anyone — even the next person who calls and claims they can help you recover your money.
Yep, scammers buy lists of those who have been scammed already and then contact those consumers by text or phone to claim they can help you get back some of the money you lost. If you pay some sort of fee upfront. It’s called a “sucker list” for a reason.
Most people should take at least three steps as soon as they can if they’ve been scammed and lost money: Contact the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, contact your bank and file a local police report.
Many times, consumers aren’t thinking of the 26-year-old Internet Crime Complaint Center when they lose money to a scam. But the center now receives an average of almost 3,000 complaints per day. In 2025, losses reported to IC3 exceeded the $20 billion mark.
It’s wise to immediately go to the FBI at www.ic3.gov to report fraud, including online extortion.
The IC3 site is monitored 24/7 by analysts at the FBI, according to Bryan Drake, supervisory special agent with the FBI field office in Detroit. Drake said that team goes straight to the individual banks to try to quickly stop wire transfers in particular to put the money back in a customer’s account. But that can only happen, he said, if a report is made quickly — within a day or so.
In other cases, such as if you send money via a bitcoin ATM, it could be nearly impossible to recover that cash. File a report anyway to help authorities understand the scope of a problem and address widespread fraud.
In metro Detroit, you can also call the FBI at 313-965-2323 and ask for the duty agent.
Victims aged 60 or older who need assistance filing an IC3 complaint can contact the Department of Justice Elder Justice Hotline at 833-372-8311.
Contact your bank
Make sure to contact your bank right away. Consumers want to go directly to their financial institution to safeguard their account. See if the bank can stop the scammers from getting your money and see what other steps need to be taken, such as closing an account.
Drake suggests that consumers should set up alerts on withdrawals from their accounts to spot and prevent fraud. The goal is to be alerted to unauthorized access to your account or debit card immediately.
Drake suggests that consumers use two factor authentication on all accounts that offer this feature.
Unfortunately, bank customers aren’t always reimbursed when they’re hit by some scams, including when they’re deceived into making a payment to a con artist, such as in a romance scam. It’s best to notify your bank immediately when a scam takes place, including when a debit card is lost or stolen to limit your liability.
File a police report
File a police report, even if you think nothing can be done.
Every report helps local police identify trends, connect similar cases, and share information with state and federal law enforcement partners, according to Troy Police Dept. Sgt. John Julian.
“One report may not seem significant on its own, but when combined with others, it can help paint a much larger picture,” Julian said.
Filing a police report will document the fraud and better enable you to work with your bank, credit card company or other financial institution when you want to dispute fraudulent charges and activity.
Julian noted that reports of specific types of scams help police educate the community. If police start seeing the same scam targeting multiple residents, he said, police departments often work to get the word out through the media and social media before more people become victims.
Financial crimes are complicated and might not be resolved on the local level alone. Many times, local police cannot put these crooks behind bars because the scammers are established at facilities overseas, such as in Cambodia and elsewhere.
Yet at the same time, local police can get some scams shut down, including those involving illegal electronic skimming devices installed at gas stations and elsewhere that are designed to steal credit card and debit card information. And then more people won’t be scammed.
Other moves to make if you’ve been scammed
Those are the first three steps to take but many times you’ll want to do more than that.
Often, it makes a good deal of sense to take time to put a “credit freeze” on your credit file — just in case. The three big credit reporting agencies — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion — are required to offer you a credit freeze, free of charge. Such a freeze will restrict access to your credit file and help stop crooks from opening credit cards in your name.
You’d go directly to each credit bureau to put a freeze on your credit. You can submit your request online, by phone, or by mail.
Oddly enough, some consumers wrongly think that a credit freeze stops them from using their own credit cards. That’s not the case at all.
You want to monitor your credit report too, suggests Drake, of the FBI. You can get a free credit report each week from Equifax, Experian and TransUnion by going to annualcreditreport.com. You’d want to review those credit reports to spot if anyone has opened a credit card or taken out a car loan using your identity.
Another good step to take: You can report fraud, scams and bad business practices at ReportFraud.ftc.gov The Federal Trade Commission isn’t going to resolve your individual report, but the FTC uses such reports to investigate and bring cases against fraud, scams and bad business practices.
The FTC also has helpful resources online — including phone numbers and contact information for gift card companies. If you act quickly, there’s an odd chance you might be able to get money back that was given to a scammer, according to an earlier FTC alert.
You will need a copy of the receipt and a copy of the numbers on your gift card. Some gift card companies are able to flag fraudulent transactions and freeze stolen gift card money so that scammers can’t get it, according to the FTC alert. Some gift card companies will hand money back to you, the FTC says, if you ask and if the money was not downloaded by the scammer.
Another good resource: Consumers can call the AARP Fraud Watch Network helpline at 877-908-3360 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. eastern time Monday through Friday. Fraud specialists can help guide you on what steps to take next.
In metro Detroit, adults age 55 and older can contact the SAFE program at Wayne State University’s Institute of Gerontology at 313-664-2608 to understand some steps to take to recover from financial exploitation.
Make sure to hold onto the paperwork. Keep original emails, letters, checks, receipts and shipping documents. Pay attention to what information criminals may have gotten from you, such as bank account numbers, addresses, e-mails and phone numbers. All of this can help you file more accurate reports.
Best bets: Don’t buy gift cards when someone asks you to buy them to pay a bill or help out a so-called friend or relative. Don’t hand over cash, either. Don’t allow anyone to direct you to a local bitcoin ATM to pay a bill or address a problem. Don’t answer calls with phone numbers that you don’t recognize. And do not trust caller ID.
Remember, do not panic. Crooks want you to think emotionally, and not use critical thinking skills. Take a breath, step back and ask a friend or relative what they think of such a call, text or email.
In general, it’s essential to continue to be skeptical, especially as artificial intelligence makes it even easier for crooks to sound convincing. Fraudsters are quite practiced at stealing money. So, you should not be too embarrassed to report the crime.
Contact personal finance columnist Susan Tompor: stompor@freepress.com. Follow her on X @tompor.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Lost money to a scam? Take these steps right away
Reporting by Susan Tompor, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Susan Tompor, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network
