F.D., a 56-year-old who had already lost money to a fake broker, received an email from a company claiming it had a “recovery case” open in her name — and that an “administrative fee” and “legal retainer” were needed to release her funds.
The cruelest scam
She paid two fees before a third “court bond” request made her uneasy. She searched whether the company was legitimate, found it was not, and reached us mid-stream.
“They knew details about my first scam. That’s exactly why I believed them.”
What we did
The first thing we told her: never pay an upfront fee to recover funds. We traced the fee payments, filed a card chargeback and a crypto freeze request, and recovered $19,000 of the $38,700 she had paid the fake recovery firm — and stopped the third payment entirely.
The takeaway
Legitimate recovery work is never paid through upfront “release” fees, and a real firm will not cold-contact you claiming a case is already open. If someone promises guaranteed recovery for a fee, walk away and check with us first.
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