Scams in the United States

Find US reporting, payment-response and identity-recovery resources after a suspected scam or fraud attempt.

Secure payments and accounts immediately

Call 911 in immediate danger. Otherwise, contact the bank, credit union, card issuer, payment app, wire provider, gift-card issuer or crypto platform through an official number or app. Explain what happened and ask about available fraud, reversal or account-security options. Recovery is not guaranteed.

Use the relevant public reporting route

Report general fraud at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and cyber-enabled crime to the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center. Unwanted robocalls and robotexts can be reported to the FCC. Your state attorney general, local police or sheriff, and the CFPB may be relevant depending on the incident.

Protect your identity

If identity information was exposed, use IdentityTheft.gov for an FTC recovery plan. Consider a fraud alert or credit freeze and preserve receipts, transaction IDs, wallet addresses, messages, numbers and screenshots.

US scam patterns to recognise

Government, IRS, Social Security, Medicare, utility, technology-company and law-enforcement impersonation; payment demands via gift cards, wire transfers, payment apps or cryptocurrency; spoofed calls/texts; romance and investment scams; and job/task scams are all reasons to pause and verify independently.