If it is happening now
Start here.
If you have just realised something is wrong, the next hour matters more than anything else on this site. Work down this page in order. You do not need to read the rest of it first.
In the next hour
- 1
Call your bank. Now, by phone.
Say the words "authorised push payment fraud" or "I was tricked into sending this". A transfer sent in the last hours can sometimes be stopped or recalled; after that it becomes much harder. Use the number on your card or on the bank's official site, never a number someone sent you.
- 2
Stop sending anything else.
No further payments, no gift cards, no cryptocurrency, no "clearing fee" to release a larger sum. There is no fee that releases money that does not exist.
- 3
Do not delete anything.
Not the chat, not the profile, not the photos, not the payment confirmations. The urge to erase it is strong and completely understandable. It is also the single thing that most often makes a case unprovable. Screenshot the conversation, the profile and every transfer.
- 4
Stop the conversation, but do not warn them.
Telling them you know gives them a reason to delete the account and everything in it. Simply stop replying. If they have anything of yours, see the section below before you decide.
The same hour, at length — including gift cards, crypto, and the people who contact you afterwards →
Report it
Reporting rarely gets the money back on its own. It does two things that matter: it creates the record your bank may need in order to reimburse you, and it is the only way these networks are ever mapped.
United States
- ic3.gov — the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center. This is the one that feeds investigations.
- reportfraud.ftc.gov — the FTC, which is how the national picture gets built.
- Your local police as well, for the report number your bank may ask for.
United Kingdom
- reportfraud.police.uk or 0300 123 2040. This replaced Action Fraud in January 2026, so older advice pointing there is out of date.
- In Scotland, call Police Scotland on 101.
Netherlands
- Fraudehelpdesk — 088 786 7372, the national fraud hotline. They will also tell you what else to report and where.
- The police as well, on 0900 8844, or 112 if you are in danger.
- Dutch banks operate a leniency framework for bank helpdesk fraud (spoofing). It does not currently cover romance fraud, so ask your bank rather than assume either way.
Elsewhere in the EU
- 112 works in every member state.
- Report to your national police and to your bank separately. They do not automatically tell each other.
- If the profile was on a platform, report it there too. It is often the fastest way to get an account removed before it reaches the next person.
Where to report in the US, UK, Netherlands and the EU, and what each one actually does →
You may have a right to be repaid
In the United Kingdom, since October 2024 banks must reimburse victims of authorised push payment fraud, up to £85,000, unless you were grossly negligent. This covers romance fraud. You do not have to argue that the bank made a mistake — the obligation is on them. If your bank refuses, you can take it to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
In the EU, equivalent protection is coming with the new Payment Services Regulation, expected to apply from 2027. Until then it depends on your bank and your country, which is a reason to ask rather than to assume the answer is no.
In the United States, there is no equivalent general right for payments you authorised yourself. Speed is what matters: a wire or transfer can sometimes be recalled in the first hours, and almost never afterwards.
What to say to your bank, and what it owes you in each country →
Expect a second approach
Within weeks, sometimes days, you may be contacted by someone offering to recover your money: a "fund recovery agency", an investigator, a lawyer, a person claiming to work at a regulator, occasionally someone claiming to be from your own bank.
Treat every one of them as fraud until proven otherwise. People who have just lost money are the most valuable list in this business, and it is frequently sold to the next operator or worked by the same one. Nobody legitimate will ask you to pay a fee up front to get your own money back.
If they have photographs, or threaten you
Do not pay, and do not negotiate. Paying marks you as someone who pays and the demands continue. This is an established pattern with an established answer: report it to the police, keep everything, and tell one person you trust so you are not carrying it alone.
If a threat is immediate or you feel unsafe, call your emergency number: 911 in the United States, 999 in the United Kingdom, 112 anywhere in the EU.
One more thing, and it is not a footnote
These operations are run by organised teams, using scripts refined across thousands of conversations, often working in shifts against one person. The techniques are engineered specifically to work on people who are capable, generous and paying attention. That is not a consolation, it is simply what is true.
Most people never tell anyone. That silence is not an accident: it is designed in, because a victim who feels foolish does not call the bank in the first hour and does not report it at all. If you take one thing from this page other than the phone call, take this one: tell one person today.
If you are struggling to cope with what has happened, that is a normal response to losing money and a relationship at the same time. Please talk to your doctor or someone close to you rather than carrying it privately.
If this is about someone else
Most of these are noticed by a daughter, a son or a friend rather than by the person themselves. What to say, and what not to say, is a different problem with different answers.
I am worried about someoneThis page stores nothing and requires no account. Nothing you do here is recorded against you, and there is no analytics on it.
Send this to someone
Most of these are caught by somebody standing nearby rather than by the person themselves. Passing this on is the single most useful thing you can do with it.
https://heart-osint.org/help