Greater London
Cryptocurrency fraud investigation in London
We work with clients across London whose cryptocurrency has been lost to fraud, reconstructing where the funds moved from the public transfer record and preparing a written evidence report you can take to Action Fraud, your bank or a solicitor. Most of the work is done remotely; our office is in Reading, under an hour from Paddington.
What we see in Greater London
London is where the UK's fraud response is concentrated. City of London Police is the national lead force for fraud and hosts Action Fraud and the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, which assesses every report made in England, Wales and Northern Ireland before deciding whether it is referred to a force. A report made from a London address goes through exactly the same triage as one made anywhere else.
It is also where most of the UK's regulated cryptocurrency businesses, banks and law firms are based. That matters in practice: when a trace ends at a service with a London presence, correspondence and any subsequent legal step tend to move faster than they would against an offshore counterparty.
Civil claims arising from larger losses are frequently issued in the Business and Property Courts at the Rolls Building. That is a decision for a solicitor, not for us — but it is one reason we set out endpoints precisely enough for a legal adviser to judge whether a claim is worth bringing.
We do not operate a London office, and we will not pretend otherwise. Anyone contacting you claiming to be Wallsec from a London address is not us.
First steps if you have just lost funds
Step 1
Report to Action Fraud
Use actionfraud.police.uk or 0300 123 2040. Action Fraud is run by City of London Police and covers England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Keep the crime reference number — banks, exchanges and solicitors all ask for it.
Step 2
Tell the receiving exchange the same day
If you can identify the service that received the funds, send it the transaction hashes, dates and amounts immediately. This is the only step with a window measured in hours.
Step 3
Notify your bank in writing
If money left a UK account or card, report it to your bank the same day and keep the written acknowledgement. Ask specifically whether the authorised push payment reimbursement rules apply to your payment.
Step 4
Preserve the record
Export transaction hashes, wallet addresses, chat histories and statements before accounts are closed or apps removed. This is the material a trace is built from.
There is a fuller walkthrough in our guide on reporting cryptocurrency fraud in the UK, and on preserving evidence before it disappears.
Questions from London clients
- Do you have an office in London?
- No. Our registered office is at 4th Floor, No. 1 Forbury Place, 43 Forbury Road, Reading RG1 3JH, and we work with London clients remotely or by arrangement in Reading. We publish one address and one set of contact details.
- Does reporting in London make a difference to my case?
- Not to triage. Action Fraud is run by City of London Police but assesses reports from across England, Wales and Northern Ireland on the same basis. What changes the outcome is the quality of the evidence attached to the report.
- Can the Metropolitan Police help with cryptocurrency fraud?
- A case is only allocated to the Met if the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau refers it there after assessing your Action Fraud report. You cannot ordinarily open a fraud investigation by walking into a station.
- Do you take London cases of any size?
- We assess every enquiry free of charge and say plainly when a trace is not worth commissioning — usually where the trail reaches a privacy protocol early or the loss would not justify the cost.