If you've been scammed in the UK, you have unusually strong consumer protections — *if* you file in the right order, in the right window. This is the playbook.
Hour 1: stop and screenshot
Stop sending money. Do not pay any "release fee", "tax", or "compliance charge" — every additional payment is a second loss. Screenshot the chat, the platform dashboard, the wallet addresses, the names and numbers *before* blocking, because evidence vanishes the moment you cut contact.
Hour 1–24: the four filings that recover money
### 1. Your bank — invoke the Contingent Reimbursement Model (CRM)
Call your bank's fraud line (not general customer service). If you sent money via Faster Payments, CHAPS, or a bank transfer to a fraudster, the Authorised Push Payment (APP) Mandatory Reimbursement scheme (effective October 2024) requires most UK banks to refund you up to £85,000 per claim within 5 business days, unless you ignored a specific warning or were grossly negligent.
Use the magic words: *"I am a victim of an authorised push payment fraud and I am claiming under the PSR's mandatory reimbursement scheme."* Get the case reference in writing. If your bank refuses or stalls, escalate to the Financial Ombudsman Service after 8 weeks (or sooner with a deadlock letter).
### 2. Action Fraud — actionfraud.police.uk or 0300 123 2040
The UK's national fraud-reporting body. File even if the amount is small. You will receive an NFRC reference number — keep it; every subsequent agency will ask for it. Action Fraud is consolidating victims by case, which is how multi-million-pound cases get prosecuted.
### 3. The receiving exchange's UK compliance team
Trace the wallet address (your TX history → block explorer → exchange label). Email the exchange's compliance team directly: compliance@, legal@, uk-law-enforcement@. Include your Action Fraud NFRC number. UK-licensed exchanges (Coinbase UK, Kraken UK, Bitstamp UK, Gemini UK) respond fastest because they're FCA-regulated for AML purposes.
### 4. The FCA — fca.org.uk/scamsmart
Report the platform to the FCA so it lands on the ScamSmart warning list — the single highest-traffic UK scam-prevention page on the internet. Future victims googling the platform name will see the warning.
Day 2–7: supporting filings
- Cifas — register for protective fraud markers on your credit file (£25/year, blocks identity-theft follow-on damage).
- The platform where contact began — Tinder, Hinge, Bumble, Instagram, WhatsApp, LinkedIn. All have UK fraud-reporting forms.
- Citizens Advice consumer service — 0808 223 1133 — they coordinate with Trading Standards and can escalate stuck cases.
- Your MP, if Action Fraud goes quiet for >6 weeks. A constituent letter from an MP unsticks more fraud cases than any other intervention available to ordinary citizens.
- GACS — gacs.app/report. The platform name, wallet addresses, and phone numbers go into the public blacklist that's searched 200k+ times per month by potential UK victims.
The HMRC tax write-off
UK victims can usually claim a negligible value claim under TCGA 1992 s.24 once it's clear the "investment" is unrecoverable, treating the asset as disposed of at zero. This generates a capital loss that offsets future capital gains.
For straight scams where the asset never existed (most pig butchering), HMRC will accept a claim for the year you discover the fraud, provided you have evidence (your Action Fraud NFRC number is sufficient). Talk to a chartered accountant. This recovers nothing immediately, but compounds against future gains for the rest of your taxable life.
What does *not* work
- "Recovery firms" advertising on Google or contacting you on WhatsApp. 100% are scams, often run by the same network as the original. The FCA maintains a list of unauthorised recovery firms — it's not exhaustive, but if a firm offering recovery is not on the FCA register at register.fca.org.uk, do not engage.
- Filing only with local police. They will redirect you to Action Fraud. Skip the step.
- "Trading Standards will get my money back." They handle consumer goods disputes, not international crypto fraud. Useful for escalation only.
The 24-hour rule
The single highest-leverage thing a UK fraud victim can do is invoke the APP reimbursement scheme with their bank inside the first 24 hours. The scheme is new, banks are still calibrating their refusal rates downward, and a clear early claim is harder to deny than a vague late one. Call the fraud line tonight.