Emergency protocol

You already paid. Here is what to do now.

Speed matters more than anything else in the first day. Work down this list in order, and do not wait to see whether the seller answers.

01Within the hour
Call your bank and ask for a wire recall
Ask specifically for a SWIFT recall or a wire reversal request on the outgoing transfer, and use the words fraud and unauthorized beneficiary. Wires are difficult to reverse, but same-day requests are occasionally stopped before the receiving account is drained. Ask the bank to also flag the beneficiary account.
02Same day
Dispute card, PayPal, Zelle, or Cash App payments
A credit or debit card payment is your strongest position: open a fraud or non-delivery dispute with the card issuer, and separately a chargeback for goods not received. PayPal goods-and-services payments are covered by its buyer protection, but friends-and-family payments are not. Be realistic about Zelle, Cash App, and Venmo: because you authorised the transfer yourself, US law treats it as an authorised payment and reimbursement is discretionary rather than guaranteed. Report it as a scam anyway, in writing, and escalate past the first representative.
03Same day
Screenshot everything before it disappears
Capture the listing, the full website including the about and contact pages, the invoice, the wire instructions, every email and text thread, and the phone numbers. Fraudulent sites are taken offline within days and your evidence goes with them. Save full-page screenshots with visible URLs and timestamps.
04Within 24 hours
File with the FBI IC3 at ic3.gov
Submit a complaint with the domain, the exact wire amount, the beneficiary name, the receiving bank and account number, and the dates. This is the highest-value step available for a domestic wire, because IC3's Recovery Asset Team can trigger the Financial Fraud Kill Chain and ask the receiving bank to freeze the funds. The kill chain is designed for domestic wires of 50,000 dollars or more reported within roughly 72 hours, so file immediately and file even if your loss is smaller.

Then, over the following days

File a local police report

You will likely need a report number for your bank, your insurer, and any civil action. Bring printed evidence. Ask for the report to be classified as wire fraud rather than a civil dispute.

Report to the FTC

File at reportfraud.ftc.gov. This feeds the Consumer Sentinel database used by state and federal investigators to link cases across victims.

Report the domain to the registrar and host

Find the registrar in a WHOIS lookup and submit an abuse report with your evidence. Registrar and host suspensions are the fastest way to take a live site down and stop the next buyer from paying.

Report the payment identity

Send the beneficiary name and account details to the receiving bank's fraud department. Banks can close mule accounts, and a documented complaint helps the next victim's freeze request.

Notify your state attorney general

Most states have an online consumer complaint form. State AGs occasionally act on clusters of complaints against the same operation.

Document it publicly

File a case file here so the domain, the beneficiary name, and the pattern are indexed. Public documentation is what stops the same operation from running the same site under a new name.

Official reporting channels

File with the body that covers where you live. These are the official government and law-enforcement channels; none of them charge a fee to take a fraud report.

FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)
United States
The primary channel for wire fraud and online sale fraud. Complaints route to FBI field offices and to the Recovery Asset Team for possible fund freezes.
www.ic3.gov
FTC ReportFraud
United States
Feeds the Consumer Sentinel database used by federal, state, and international investigators to link complaints against the same operation.
reportfraud.ftc.gov
Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre
Canada
Joint RCMP, Competition Bureau, and OPP centre that collects fraud reports and issues national alerts.
antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca
Action Fraud
United Kingdom
The national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland; reports go to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau.
www.actionfraud.police.uk
Scamwatch (ACCC)
Australia
Run by the National Anti-Scam Centre; collects reports and publishes current scam warnings.
www.scamwatch.gov.au
eConsumer.gov
International
Multi-country portal for cross-border complaints, shared among consumer protection agencies in more than 40 countries.
econsumer.gov

Warning: the second scam

Within weeks of filing a public complaint, many victims are contacted by someone offering to recover the money for an upfront fee, a retainer, or a crypto payment. These are almost always the same networks working their own victim lists a second time. Legitimate recovery happens through your bank, IC3, and law enforcement, and none of them ask you to pay to get your money back. We never do either.

Add your case to the archive

Once the urgent steps are done, file a report or email reports@fraudreported.com. Your name is never published. The domain and the payment pattern are, so the next buyer finds them first.