How to Report a Scam — Every Agency You Should Contact (2026)

If you’ve been scammed, reporting it probably isn’t the first thing on your mind. Shock, embarrassment, anger, and the urgent need to figure out whether any money can be recovered tend to come first. All of that is understandable.

But reporting matters — both for your own potential recovery and for everyone else. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) uses individual reports to identify patterns, build investigations, and pursue prosecutions. FTC reports feed into the consumer fraud databases that shape law enforcement priorities and result in actions against major scam operations. Your report — even if it feels like a drop in the ocean — becomes part of the data that gets someone eventually arrested or at least disrupts their operation.

This guide covers every agency worth contacting, what they actually do with your report, and what to have ready before you start.

What to Have Ready Before Reporting

Every agency will ask for similar information. Prepare the following before you begin:

Documentation of the scam:

Dates of all contact and payments
Names, usernames, or aliases used by the scammer
Email addresses, phone numbers, or social media profiles
Screenshots of messages, emails, and conversations (save these before they disappear)
The platform where contact began (dating app, email, social media, phone)

Financial records:

Exact amounts sent and dates
Payment method used (wire transfer, gift cards, cryptocurrency, Zelle, etc.)
Bank or account used to send payment
Any transaction or confirmation numbers
Recipient account details, if you have them (gift card numbers, crypto addresses, wire recipient info)

Identity information given:

Any personal details you provided (name, address, SSN, date of birth, financial account numbers)
This matters because if you provided identity information, there are additional steps to take separately

Having this information organized in one document saves significant time across multiple reports.

1. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) — reportfraud.ftc.gov

The FTC is your first stop for most scams targeting consumers. It handles the broadest range of fraud types and has the most straightforward reporting process.

What they do with your report:

Add your report to the Consumer Sentinel Network, a secure database used by federal, state, and local law enforcement
Use aggregated data to identify trends and pursue actions against major fraud operations
The FTC itself has taken action against many large-scale scam operations based on patterns identified from consumer reports

When to use it:

Any consumer fraud: romance scams, impersonation scams, lottery scams, tech support scams, phishing, investment scams
If you’re uncertain which agency to contact, start here

What to expect: The FTC will send you a personalized recovery plan based on what type of scam you experienced. They will not contact you about your specific case — individual case investigation is not what the FTC does. But your report contributes to larger enforcement actions.

Go to reportfraud.ftc.gov and follow the prompts. The process takes approximately 10-15 minutes.

2. FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) — ic3.gov

The IC3 is the FBI’s dedicated internet crime reporting portal. Unlike the FTC, the FBI does pursue individual criminal cases — when the facts support it and resources allow.

What they do with your report:

Analysts review complaints and refer them to appropriate law enforcement agencies (federal, state, or local)
High-value cases or cases showing patterns consistent with organized criminal networks get flagged for investigation
IC3 data drives the FBI’s annual Internet Crime Report and shapes federal law enforcement priorities

When to use it:

Internet-based fraud (which covers most modern scams)
Particularly valuable for losses over $5,000, though all losses are accepted
Business Email Compromise, investment fraud, ransomware, data breaches, and extortion are priority categories

What to expect: You’ll receive a reference number. Most complainants do not receive individual follow-up. But significant cases — particularly those involving larger losses or patterns of crime — do lead to FBI involvement. The IC3 has been integral in busting major BEC fraud rings, romance scam networks, and cryptocurrency fraud operations.

Go to ic3.gov and file a complaint. Expect 20-30 minutes for the full form.

3. Your Bank or Financial Institution

This is the call most likely to result in actual money recovery, and it should happen as quickly as possible.

What they can do:

Initiate a wire recall for recent wire transfers (within 24-48 hours, your best window)
Issue chargebacks for credit card transactions to fraudulent merchants
Flag your accounts for monitoring
Freeze your accounts if you believe ongoing access has been compromised
Issue new card numbers if payment information was exposed

What to expect by payment type:

Credit cards: The Fair Credit Billing Act gives you strong protection against unauthorized charges. File a dispute immediately. Credit card chargebacks for fraud are generally successful when reported promptly.

Debit cards: Some protection exists under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, but it’s weaker than credit card protection and time-limited. Report within 2 days for maximum protection (up to $50 liability); waiting 3-60 days increases your liability to $500; after 60 days, you may lose all protection.

Wire transfers: Difficult to reverse but not impossible if you act immediately. Contact your bank the same day. The bank initiates a wire recall request to the receiving bank. Success depends on whether funds have already been moved — but early reports do result in recoveries.

Zelle: Zelle’s fraud protection is limited by design — the service is intended for trusted contacts. Scam transactions (where you authorized the payment, even under false pretenses) are generally not reimbursable, though some banks have voluntarily adopted better policies. Report anyway.

Gift cards: See the specific section below.

4. Your State Attorney General

Every state has an Attorney General’s office with a consumer protection division. State AGs have authority to pursue cases that affect state residents, and they sometimes have more flexibility to act on smaller-scale fraud than federal agencies.

When to contact them:

When the scammer appears to be operating locally or within your state
For scams targeting specific vulnerable populations (elderly, veterans)
For business fraud: fake contractors, fraudulent service businesses

Find your state AG’s consumer protection contact through naag.org (National Association of Attorneys General).

5. USPS Inspection Service (Mail Fraud)

If any component of the scam involved physical mail — lottery notification letters, fake check deliveries, smishing follow-up mail — the US Postal Inspection Service has jurisdiction.

Mail fraud is a federal crime, and postal inspectors are aggressive investigators with a strong record of successful prosecutions.

Report at postalinspectors.uspis.gov or call 1-877-876-2455.

6. Western Union and MoneyGram Dispute Processes

If you sent money via wire transfer service:

Western Union: If you sent money within the last 30 days and the transaction hasn’t been picked up, you may be able to stop it. Call 1-800-448-1492. If funds were already picked up, Western Union may still have a fraud refund program — they settled an FTC action in 2017 and have provided refunds to fraud victims from that fund.

MoneyGram: Similar process — call 1-800-926-9400 immediately. A prior FTC settlement also resulted in a victim refund fund.

Neither guarantee recovery, but early contact is essential to any chance of success.

7. Gift Card Issuers

Gift cards are the payment method of choice for scammers precisely because they’re nearly impossible to reverse. But “nearly” is not “absolutely.”

Contact the issuer immediately with the gift card number and PIN, your purchase receipt, and an explanation of the fraud.

Apple (iTunes/App Store gift cards): Apple has been known to refund gift card fraud victims in documented cases. Contact Apple Support at 1-800-275-2273.

Google Play: Contact Google Play support. Results are inconsistent but worth attempting.

Amazon: Contact Amazon customer service. Documented fraud cases have resulted in refunds.

Target, Walmart, Best Buy store gift cards: Less likely to refund, but report anyway. Many retailers now have fraud investigation teams and preserve the ability to freeze card balances if the funds haven’t been spent.

Act immediately — the longer you wait, the more likely the funds have been transferred or spent.

8. The Platform Where the Scam Originated

Report the scammer’s profile, account, or website to the platform where you first encountered them:

Dating apps: Report and block the profile. Most major apps have fraud investigation teams.
Social media: Report the account to the platform.
Email phishing: Report the email as phishing in your client (this feeds into spam filters that protect others).
Fraudulent websites: Report to Google Safe Browsing (safebrowsing.google.com/safebrowsing/report_phish/) and to your internet provider’s abuse department.

Can I Get My Money Back? An Honest Answer

This is the question everyone asks. Here’s the honest answer by payment method:

Credit card payments: Often recoverable through chargeback. High success rate when reported promptly.

Bank wire transfers: Rarely recovered, but possible within 24-48 hours. Success rate drops sharply with time.

Zelle/Venmo/Cash App: Generally not recoverable unless the platform chooses to make an exception.

Gift cards: Occasionally refundable directly from the issuer; more likely if contacted immediately before funds are depleted.

Cryptocurrency: Essentially unrecoverable. Crypto transactions are irreversible by design. Blockchain analytics firms can trace where funds went, but tracing is not the same as recovery.

Money orders and cashier’s checks: Contact the issuing institution immediately. Possible to place a stop payment if the check hasn’t cleared.

The honest summary: the faster you act and the more traditional the payment method, the better your odds. Most scam victims do not recover funds. This is a genuine tragedy, and it’s worth saying plainly rather than offering false hope.

Reporting Matters Even Without Recovery

The FBI’s IC3 2023 report estimates that actual losses are significantly higher than reported losses — most scam victims never report. This is understandable: the embarrassment is real, and the expectation of recovery is low.

But each report adds to the mosaic that law enforcement uses to identify criminal networks. The IC3 uses complaint data to identify geographic clusters of fraud, recognize criminal signatures, and connect cases that appear unrelated. Prosecutions that disrupt major scam operations — the pig butchering compound takedowns, the BEC ring arrests — are built from exactly this kind of aggregate data.

Your report may not help you. It may help the next person.

Read our guide on what to do if you click a phishing link for the immediate technical steps, and our complete guide to the psychology of scams to understand how these operations manipulate their targets so effectively.