A second scam aimed at people who have already lost money. The victim list is the product: it is sold or reused from the first operation.
It is one of the cruellest patterns in this list, because the people targeted have already been hurt. The contact usually comes as a call, an email or a message from someone who says they found your case, monitor fraud, or work with the authorities.
The offer costs money up front. The recovery does not exist, and the details you provide to prove your loss become the material for a third attempt.
Where it comes from
- Victim lists are a by-product of the first scam and are traded. Being contacted shortly after a loss is expected, not a coincidence.
- Fake law firms, fake regulators and fake 'asset recovery' desks use names that look official and websites that vanish quickly.
- Recovery offers also appear as adverts placed against the word 'scam' for a particular platform, so searching for help is how people find them.
- The first message often knows the exact amount you lost, which makes it feel like proof of authority.
The rules that remove the risk
- No legitimate recovery process requires an up-front fee from the victim. Fees, where they exist, come out of what is recovered.
- Your bank, your national consumer authority and the police do not charge for help and do not call offering it.
- A lawyer can be verified: a bar association or professional register will confirm whether the person and firm exist.
- Nobody legitimate needs your online-banking password, your card's security code or remote access to your device to look into a loss.
What genuinely helps
- 1Report to your bank the moment the loss happens, and again if a recovery offer appears months later — banks do track repeat targeting.
- 2Report to the national fraud service and to the platform where the contact happened, even when it feels late.
- 3Keep one folder with everything: messages, transaction references, names used, account numbers, dates.
- 4Change your passwords and enable two-factor authentication on email and banking, so the contact list you are on does not become access.
- 5Before paying anyone to help, ask for their registration number and verify it with the register yourself.
Frequently asked questions
How did they know exactly how much I lost?
That figure travels with the victim list produced by the first operation. Knowing it proves that the person has the same list, not that they have any power to recover anything.
They offered to take a percentage only after recovery. Is that safer?
It removes the up-front fee but not the risk: the same conversation is used to extract documents and access. Success fees are also a common second stage, arriving once trust is built.
Is there a legitimate way to recover money lost to fraud?
Sometimes — through your bank's dispute process, and through the police and consumer authorities in your country. All of them are free, and none of them will contact you first offering a service.
Written by The BaitScan team
Last updated September 16, 2026
Results are automated risk estimates based on public indicators and heuristics.