What a solicitor can do that we cannot
- Apply to court. Disclosure orders against a service, and orders freezing assets, are legal instruments only a legal representative can pursue.
- Advise on a civil claim. Whether there is a viable defendant, and whether pursuing them is proportionate, is a legal judgement.
- Correspond with authority. Formal correspondence from a firm is treated differently from a private individual's email.
- Advise on tax and reporting consequences of a loss, which frequently come as an unwelcome surprise.
When it is probably worth it
The honest test is proportionality. Legal action is worth exploring when the loss is large enough to bear the cost, when the trace points at an identifiable service or party within reach of a court, and when funds may still exist rather than having been spent.
Where the trail ends at a privacy protocol, at an unregulated platform in a jurisdiction with no realistic enforcement route, or at a wallet that has been emptied, legal action usually adds cost without adding prospects. A responsible solicitor will tell you that.
When it probably is not
- Losses small enough that legal fees would exceed any realistic return.
- No identifiable counterparty within a jurisdiction that can be reached.
- Funds already dissipated, with nothing left to restrain.
- Cases where reporting to Action Fraud and the receiving exchange is genuinely the whole of the available action.
How an investigation and legal advice fit together
A solicitor needs facts to act on: which addresses received the funds, when, in what amounts, and what kind of endpoint they represent. Producing that in a verifiable form is the investigation's job.
Getting the order right saves money. Commissioning legal work before knowing where the funds went usually means paying a solicitor to wait. A trace first, then a proportionality decision, then legal advice if the facts justify it, is the sequence that wastes least.
Choosing carefully after a loss
Anyone contacting you unprompted after a fraud, offering legal help and asking for a payment before anything is documented, should be treated with suspicion regardless of how professional the approach looks.
Solicitors in England and Wales can be checked on the Solicitors Regulation Authority register, and in Scotland with the Law Society of Scotland. Verify the firm independently and contact it on the details it publishes itself.
If you are looking at your own case rather than reading generally, our cryptocurrency investigation service explains how a case is scoped and worked, the asset tracing hub covers the network-specific work, and our overview of cryptocurrency scam recovery in the UK sets out what is realistic. Asset pages: USDT tracing, Bitcoin tracing and Ethereum tracing. You can also contact the investigations team directly.
Common questions
- Can I sue someone for cryptocurrency fraud in the UK?
- It is possible where there is an identifiable defendant or service within reach of the courts and assets that still exist. Whether it is proportionate depends on the loss size and the strength of the evidence, and requires legal advice.
- Should I get a solicitor before or after a trace?
- Usually after. A solicitor needs to know where the funds went before advising on options, and paying for legal time to wait for those facts is avoidable cost.
- Do you provide legal advice?
- No. Wallsec is an investigation firm, not a law firm. We produce evidence a solicitor can use, and we do not take referral payments for recommending one.
- How do I check a solicitor is genuine?
- Search the Solicitors Regulation Authority register for England and Wales, or the Law Society of Scotland, and contact the firm using the details published there rather than any details sent to you.
Have a case you want reviewed?
We scope at intake and tell you honestly whether the onchain data supports a traceable case.
Key terms in this guide
Plain-English definitions from the Wallsec glossary.