Financial Recovery Services: How to Spot a Legitimate Expert vs. a Recovery Scam

Who we are — and who we are not

GACS (Global Anti-Crime & Safety) is not a financial recovery service. We are a free, public-benefit scam registry and education project: we document confirmed scams so the next person finds the warning, and we teach victims the official recovery channels — their bank, the FTC, the FBI’s IC3, Action Fraud, or the CAFC. We will never contact you offering to recover your money, we never charge for recovery, and nobody legitimate does either. If someone claims to be “from GACS” and asks for a fee to get your funds back, it is the recovery scam described below — report it here.

8 signals of a legitimate financial recovery service

• ✓Licensed law firm or registered investigator — you can verify their bar number, PI license, or company registration on a government regulator site (not a link they sent you).
• ✓Physical office address that matches their licensing record and shows up on independent maps and corporate filings.
• ✓Written engagement letter with scope, hourly or flat fee, and a clear refund/withdrawal clause — signed before any payment.
• ✓Charges by the hour or a flat retainer for documented work (drafting demand letters, subpoenas, exchange compliance requests). Never a percentage of "recovered" funds collected upfront.
• ✓Will tell you the truth: most consumer fraud loses under $10,000 are not economically recoverable through private counsel. A legitimate expert says no.
• ✓Accepts payment to the firm's bank account or trust account — never to a personal wallet, gift cards, or crypto.
• ✓References you can call, plus public court filings or case numbers you can look up yourself.
• ✓Works with — not around — your bank, the receiving exchange, IC3/Action Fraud/CAFC, and local police.

8 red flags of a fraud-recovery scam

• ✕Cold DM, comment reply, or email contact after you posted about your loss publicly.
• ✕Calls themselves a "certified blockchain forensics expert," "ethical hacker," or "asset-recovery agent" — titles that don't correspond to any real license.
• ✕Promises a specific recovery percentage or a guaranteed outcome. No legitimate lawyer or investigator can guarantee recovery.
• ✕Demands an upfront fee, retainer, "gas fee," "tax release," or "insurance bond" in crypto, gift cards, or wire transfer.
• ✕Shows screenshots of "frozen funds" inside a fake dashboard you have to log into to see your balance.
• ✕Pressures you with a 48-hour deadline or claims funds will be "permanently lost" if you wait.
• ✕Refuses a live video call from a verifiable office, or every video has a different background.
• ✕Asks for your seed phrase, exchange password, 2FA code, or remote access to your computer.

Next steps