Why unsolicited recovery offers are a warning sign
“A firm contacted me saying they can trace and recover what I lost. Should I engage them?”
Treat anyone who approached you after your loss as a likely recovery scam until proven otherwise. The FBI warns about this directly, and IC3 states plainly that it works with no non-law-enforcement entity to recover funds.
Why you specifically
People who have already lost money are the most heavily targeted group there is. The loss is often visible — in a complaint forum, a comment, a support group — and the motivation is known. Victim lists are also traded between operators, and in many cases the second approach comes from the same organisation as the first.
How to tell the difference
Legitimate forensic work is sold at a flat fee stated in advance, produces a document you own whatever the outcome, and promises nothing about recovery. Anyone charging a percentage of what is recovered has created an incentive to promise a recovery — and a quiet preference for clients who called too late to be helped.
Legitimate practitioners do not need remote access to your computer, do not need your seed phrase, and never ask for a fee to release funds they claim to have already recovered. Anyone doing any of those three things is stealing from you.
Government process is free. The Department of Justice states it never asks for payment to participate in the remission process by which victims are actually paid from seized assets.
How this gets used against people
The second loss is frequently larger than the first, because the target is known, the emotional stakes are higher, and the approach is tailored to a person already motivated to act.
What you can check yourself
- Did they contact you? That alone is close to dispositive.
- Are they asking for money up front, or a percentage? Both are warnings.
- Never grant remote access, never share a seed phrase, and never pay a fee to release recovered funds.