If you've just realized you were scammed, take a breath. The wave of embarrassment you might be feeling is normal. It's also the thing that makes people freeze up and lose precious time, so set it aside for now. You were targeted by people who do this professionally. What you do in the next hour matters far more than how you feel about it, and there's a clear order to work through.

Being scammed is not a character flaw; these schemes are built to fool sharp, careful people. The most useful thing you can do right now is act quickly, not beat yourself up.

Do these in order

  1. 1Stop all contact and send no more money. No 'one last payment' to fix things. That's the scam continuing.
  2. 2Call your bank or card company immediately. Tell them exactly what happened. With some transfers, fast action can flag, hold, or even reverse the payment, but the window is short, so call right away.
  3. 3Change your passwords and turn on two-factor authentication, starting with email and banking. If you reused a password anywhere, change it there too.
  4. 4Freeze your credit at all three bureaus if any personal information was exposed, so no one can open new accounts in your name. Credit Freezes and Fraud Alerts shows you how.
  5. 5Report it (details below) so there's an official record and the right agencies can act.

Where to report

  • *The FTC at ReportFraud..gov. The federal government's central place to report fraud. If your identity was stolen specifically, use _IdentityTheft.gov_*, which also builds you a free recovery plan.
  • *The FBI's IC3 at IC3.gov.* For scams that happened online: a fake website, an online romance or investment scam, email fraud.
  • Your local police. File a report. It may not recover your money, but , banks, and the credit bureaus often want a police report number before they'll clear fraudulent accounts.

Beware the second scam

There's a cruel twist to watch for. After you've been scammed, you may be contacted by someone promising to recover your lost money, for a fee or for some information up front. This is almost always a second scam, sometimes run by the very same people, who know you're hurting and hopeful. Real authorities don't charge you to get your money back.

Tip
Nobody legitimate asks for an upfront fee to recover money you lost. If someone reaches out offering to get your funds back for a payment, that's the . Hang up.

Write down everything while it's fresh: dates, names, numbers, what was said, what you sent. It helps your bank and the agencies, and it helps you see clearly. If your or documents were exposed, Protecting Yourself From Identity Theft covers the longer-term watch. Then be kind to yourself. You faced it and you acted, and that was the hard part.