Cyber Analysis Group - CyberAGroup - OSINT Darkweb Investigations  - Insider Threat - Crypto - Online threat & exposure - SOCMINT - Canadian

‹ Back

The Scam After the Scam!

Sorry your money is gone and getting it back from the scammer isn't possible. This is the response CyberAGroup provides to 99.9% of folks asking us to recover money lost to scams. Unfortunately, in nearly all cases involving personal (non-business) scams, it is simply not possible to get your money back from the scammers themselves. Hiring a third party to attempt recovery usually means throwing good money after bad.

We do investigate fraud for many valid reasons, such as identifying the source and preventing future losses. However, we have never seen a client successfully recover lost funds directly from the perpetrators. Any service claiming they can retrieve your money from scammers is almost always a scam itself. Even when scammers are identified, they are often located overseas, outside the reach of Canadian civil or criminal law. In rare cases where the scammer is in Canada, the best possible outcome is criminal prosecution, but this is uncommon. For example, we recently identified a Canadian scammer targeting seniors using a Bell cellphone. Law enforcement's response: report it to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre. Unfortunately, this rarely leads to meaningful action.

There are legitimate ways to recover lost funds in certain situations, such as when fraud involves your credit card or bank account. Financial institutions have resources to assist you, and if restitution is possible, it will come from them, not from a third-party service. Some retailers may also provide refunds for fraudulent purchases. Importantly, you do not need to pay anyone to initiate these processes. Banks and credit card companies will only work directly with you.

Sadly, a new industry has emerged that preys on the misfortune of scam victims, promising recovery services that rarely deliver. If you have been scammed, be cautious. Do not let the scam after the scam take even more of your hard-earned money.