Government and authority impersonation · Also called fake FCA scam, fake SEC scam, regulator impersonation, recovery room scam
Fake regulator recovery scam
A fake regulator scam is when criminals pose as a financial regulator, government department, or police unit and say they have found or recovered money you lost, often in crypto. To release it you must pay a fee, tax, or charge first. Real regulators never contact you offering to recover money for a fee.
How it works
- The scammer contacts someone who lost money in an earlier investment or loan scam, often by phone or email.
- They claim to be from a financial regulator or government body and use its name, logo, or real staff names.
- They say funds have been recovered, sometimes from a crypto wallet opened in the victim's name.
- The victim is told to pay a release fee, tax, or legal charge, and then further fees, before the money arrives.
Red flags
- A regulator or government department contacts you out of the blue about money you lost.
- You are asked to pay a fee, tax, or charge to release recovered funds.
- The message comes from a webmail address such as Gmail or Outlook, or from a messaging app.
- You are pressed to act quickly or keep the contact confidential.
If you are targeted
- Stop contact and do not pay any release fee, tax, or charge.
- Contact the regulator through the phone number or website on its official site to check the claim.
- If you have paid or shared bank details, call your bank straight away.
- Report it. Our Report a scam page lists where to report in your country, such as ic3.gov and ReportFraud.ftc.gov in the US.
Prevention
For individuals
- Know that real regulators never contact you offering to recover your money for a fee, and never ask for upfront payment to release funds.
- Check any contact against the regulator's own website and its warning list of impersonators.
- Be extra careful after any scam loss, because recovery offers target past victims.
By the numbers
Figures are for the reporting category this scam falls under, not this scam alone.
| Recovery scam losses reported to the FBI IC3 in 2025, which may include losses from the earlier scam (part of Losses reported to the FBI IC3 in 2025) | $1.4B | US, 2025, FBI IC3 |
| Government impersonator losses reported to the FTC in 2025 (about this amount) | $920M | US, 2025, FTC |
Real cases
No documented case in the atlas yet. New cases are added as they are sourced.
Delivered through: Voice phishing (vishing), Email phishing
How official datasets classify it
- FTC
- Government Imposters
- UK Finance
- Impersonation: other
- Scamwatch
- Money recovery scams
Questions
- Does the FCA recover money for scam victims?
- The FCA says it does not offer recovery services for money lost in scams and will not ask for upfront fees. Treat anyone claiming to be a regulator who asks for a fee to release funds as a scammer.
- How do I check if a regulator really contacted me?
- Find the regulator's contact details on its official website and call or write to it directly. Do not use any phone number, email address, or link in the message you received.