How to report a crypto scam in the UK

If you have lost crypto to a scam in the UK, do two things today: make a crime report to the police, and put the wallet addresses on the public record.

The crime report gets you a crime reference number, and nothing else works without one. The public record works the same afternoon.

One thing to get straight first. Action Fraud no longer exists under that name. Since 4 December 2025 the national service is Report Fraud, at reportfraud.police.uk. Any guide still saying Action Fraud predates the change.

Key takeaways

• Report to Report Fraud — reportfraud.police.uk, or 0300 123 2040. Run by the City of London Police, the national policing lead for economic crime, and covering England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
• Scotland is not part of it. Report to Police Scotland on 101.
• In Northern Ireland, if the money went out in the last 24 hours, ring PSNI on 101 instead of filing online.
• Make sure it is recorded as a crime report, not an information report. Information reports are not investigated.
• The mandatory bank reimbursement rules do not cover the crypto leg. If you moved money into your own exchange account and sent crypto on, the £85,000 rule does not apply.
• The FCA publishes the Warning List and the Firm Checker. In its own words: it cannot help you get your money back.

What to do in the first hours

Stop sending money. Almost every victim makes one final payment — a withdrawal fee, a tax, an account "unlock". That money is gone, and paying it tells them you will pay again.

Then, in this order:

1. Copy the destination addresses and the transaction hash (TXID) of every payment. They are in your wallet history or your exchange's transaction log — the only part police cannot reconstruct without you.
2. Screenshot everything before it disappears. Full WhatsApp and Telegram threads, the profile that contacted you, the platform, the dashboard showing your imaginary profits. These sites go dark within days.
3. Ring your bank the same day if any leg went out by bank transfer, including the one that bought the crypto. Use the number on your card.
4. Tell the exchange you sent from. Give them the receiving address so they can flag it. A freeze, if one happens, happens at whichever exchange the funds land in.
5. File the report and write down your crime reference number.

Where to report

Report Fraud — England, Wales and Northern Ireland

The online tool at reportfraud.police.uk takes reports at any hour. The phone line, 0300 123 2040, is open Monday to Friday, 8am to 8pm; from abroad, +44 300 123 2040. Welsh is handled on the same number, by phone rather than online. Register rather than filing as a guest — an account lets you add evidence later, which a crypto case will need.

Reports are assessed centrally by Report Fraud Analysis Services, overseen by the City of London Police, and passed to a force from there. Report Fraud is honest about what follows and so should we be: it does not investigate cases itself, and the police cannot investigate every report individually. Addresses and hashes are what lift a report out of the pile.

Ask for a crime report, not an information report

Most people never hear about this distinction, and it decides whether anything happens.

Report Fraud records two kinds of submission. A crime report gets a crime reference number and can be passed to a force. An information report is filed as intelligence — in Report Fraud's own words, information reports do not get investigated, though they help police understand the scale of what is happening. Which one you get depends on your answers to the intake questions.

So answer them as what they are. You lost money. You were deceived into sending it. If you finish without a crime reference number, ring and ask why.

Police Scotland — 101

Scotland has its own route and always has. Police Scotland takes crypto scam reports online, on 101, or in person; 999 if the crime is happening now. It may then create a crime record with a crime reference number — ask for it, and ask again if nobody offers.

Do not file with Report Fraud from Scotland. It does not reach Police Scotland.

Northern Ireland — when to ring PSNI directly

Northern Ireland uses Report Fraud, with one carve-out worth knowing on the day it matters. PSNI calls it a "call for service" and asks you to ring 101 instead when the fraud happened within the last 24 hours, when you know the suspect and they live in Northern Ireland, when the victim is vulnerable, or when police need to move fast to preserve evidence or stop a loss.

A scam discovered this morning fits the first and last of those. Ring 101.

What documentation to gather

• Every destination wallet address you sent to
• The transaction hash (TXID) for each payment, with date and time
• Uncropped screenshots of the full conversations, not the highlights
• Exact URLs for the platform, the advert and the profile that contacted you
• Bank statements and transfer receipts, including the crypto purchase
• Names, numbers, emails and handles used to contact you
• Any remote-access software you were asked to install, and when
• A written timeline: first contact, every payment, last contact

Will my bank refund me?

Since 7 October 2024, UK payment firms must reimburse victims of authorised push payment fraud up to £85,000, usually within five business days. Most people here have heard some version of this.

Here is the part nobody puts on a victim page. The rule covers money moving between UK bank accounts over Faster Payments or CHAPS. The published policy states it does not apply to payments across other payment systems, and gives as its own example a consumer who sends funds to their account at a crypto exchange and then pays a fraudster in cryptocurrency.

That is the shape of almost every crypto investment scam, and the reason sits in the definition: a covered payment has to land in a UK account not controlled by you. Your own exchange account is controlled by you, so that leg is not a scam payment at all — and the fraudulent leg happened on-chain, where the rules do not reach.

Which tells you where a claim still survives. Multi-step fraud is in scope, so if you were pushed to send money to somebody else's UK bank account and it went into crypto from there, that first leg lands somewhere you do not control: claim on it. If you are refused and disagree, the Financial Ombudsman Service will look at whether your bank did enough.

Check before you pay — the FCA Warning List and Firm Checker

The FCA Warning List names firms the FCA is concerned are working without its permission — close to twenty thousand entries, social media handles included, added daily. Absence from it proves nothing, since unauthorised firms rename constantly, but presence settles the question.

The FCA Firm Checker tells you whether a firm is authorised and whether it has permission for the specific service it is offering you. That second half catches clone firms. For crypto the FCA points you at the Financial Services Register instead, where crypto businesses appear as registered rather than authorised. If you cannot find a firm on either, the FCA takes calls on 0800 111 6768.

If a guide tells you to "check ScamSmart", it is out of date — the FCA stripped ScamSmart out of its consumer pages in January 2026.

Why the FCA is not where your case gets investigated

The FCA is unambiguous, and quoting it saves you weeks: it looks into every report it receives, and it cannot help you get your money back. It is equally plain about crypto being largely unregulated here — no Financial Ombudsman Service over a crypto firm, no Financial Services Compensation Scheme cover if it collapses, and being on the register changes neither.

Report the firm anyway; it feeds the Warning List. But after the police report, which is the order the FCA itself recommends.

Can I get my money back?

Sometimes. Far less often than the adverts above these search results suggest.

It comes down to one question: did the funds reach a service with compliance obligations before they scattered? Through mixers, bridges, or networks where nobody answers a request, that route narrows to almost nothing.

Nobody can honestly quote you a percentage. Anyone who does, over the phone, having seen not one transaction, is selling you something.

Beware of "fund recovery" offers

Weeks or months later, someone offers to recover your money. They claim to be solicitors, or to have contacts inside an exchange, a police force, or the FCA itself. What they want is an advance fee, a "court cost", or remote access to your computer.

The FCA warns about exactly this and calls them recovery room scammers. The tells do not change:

• They contacted you
• Money is wanted before anything happens
• Success is guaranteed
• Inside contacts are claimed

Reporting is free. No UK body — not the police, not the FCA — ever asks you to pay in advance to get your funds returned.

Why record the address publicly

A criminal investigation runs at the pace of a criminal investigation. A public record works this afternoon.

Post the address, the hash and the website on Chainabuse and that entry is visible to exchange compliance teams, investigators, and anyone searching the name before they transfer. Chainabuse is free, open to all, and aggregates reports against the same address, so scattered losses become a pattern anyone can see.

Often the person who benefits is not the one who reported. It is the one who searches two weeks later and finds the warning.

FAQ

1. Where do I report a crypto scam in the UK?

In England, Wales or Northern Ireland, report to Report Fraud at reportfraud.police.uk or on 0300 123 2040. In Scotland, report to Police Scotland on 101. In Northern Ireland, if the payment left in the last 24 hours, ring PSNI on 101.

2. Is Action Fraud still the place to report?

No. Action Fraud was replaced by Report Fraud on 4 December 2025 and the old address redirects. It is still run by the City of London Police and the number is still 0300 123 2040.

3. What if I live in Scotland?

Police Scotland handles fraud reporting there and is not part of Report Fraud. Report online, on 101, or in person, and ask for your crime reference number.

4. Will my bank refund me if I was tricked into buying crypto?

Usually not. The mandatory rules cover UK transfers over Faster Payments and CHAPS, and the published policy expressly excludes the case where you sent money to your own crypto exchange account and then paid a fraudster in crypto. Tell your bank the same day regardless.

5. Does the FCA investigate my case?

No. The FCA says plainly that it cannot help you get your money back. It reads every report and uses them to warn others, but your case is investigated through the police report.

6. What do I need before I report?

The wallet addresses, the TXID of each payment with date and time, uncropped screenshots of the conversations, the exact URLs, your bank statements and a written timeline. "I was scammed online" cannot support an investigation.

7. Is reporting to Chainabuse the same as reporting to the police?

No, and do both. The police report opens the criminal case and produces your crime reference number. The Chainabuse report makes the address immediately visible to exchanges and investigators in every country.