Your options
Bank, Action Fraud, exchange, trace or solicitor — what each one can actually do
After cryptocurrency fraud there are five routes people are told to take, and they do completely different things. Most cases need several of them, in a particular order. This page sets out what each can and cannot achieve, so you spend your time and money where it changes something.
Short answer
Do the free, time-critical things first: tell the receiving exchange and your bank today, and report to Action Fraud. Commission a trace when you do not know where the funds went or someone else needs it documented. Take legal advice only once the trace shows there is something a court could reach.
Side by side
Your bank or card issuer
Free · Same day to raise; weeks for an outcome
Can do
- Investigate the payment that left your account, including card and Faster Payment routes.
- Attempt a recall where the money went to another UK account and has not moved.
- Consider reimbursement under the UK's authorised push payment rules, where they apply.
- Provide statements and payment records you will need later.
Cannot do
- Do anything about funds once they have been converted to cryptocurrency and sent onchain.
- Trace movement between wallets.
- Act at all if you paid from an exchange balance rather than a bank account.
Use it when: Money left a UK bank account or card. Contact them the same day, in writing.
Action Fraud (or Police Scotland)
Free · Reference number immediately; referral rare and slow
Can do
- Create the official crime record that banks, exchanges and solicitors will ask for.
- Feed your report into national analysis that links separate victims to one operation.
- Refer viable cases to a police force with the power to compel disclosure and restrain funds.
Cannot do
- Investigate your case individually in most instances.
- Give you updates on progress, or tell you who controls an address.
- Recover funds directly.
Use it when: Always, and early. actionfraud.police.uk or 0300 123 2040; in Scotland, Police Scotland on 101.
The receiving exchange
Free · Hours — this is the time-critical one
Can do
- Restrict a customer account that still holds identifiable proceeds.
- Preserve records for a later law-enforcement request.
- Escalate internally where a report is specific and verifiable.
Cannot do
- Return funds on a victim's request alone.
- Identify the account holder to you.
- Do anything at all once the balance has been withdrawn.
Use it when: As soon as you know which service received the funds. Send transaction hashes, dates and amounts.
A private onchain trace
Fixed written quote after a free first assessment · Days to assess; around two weeks for a full report
Can do
- Reconstruct where the funds went, hop by hop, from public ledger data.
- Identify and classify the endpoint: exchange deposit, bridge, privacy protocol or dormant wallet.
- Produce a verifiable evidence pack a bank, exchange, solicitor or officer can check independently.
- Tell you honestly when the trail cannot go further.
Cannot do
- Compel any disclosure, freeze anything, or reverse a transfer.
- Name the individual behind an address from onchain data alone.
- Guarantee any recovery.
Use it when: You do not know where the funds went, or someone else needs the path documented before they will act.
A solicitor
Chargeable; often significant · Weeks to months
Can do
- Apply for disclosure orders against a service holding identity records.
- Seek freezing orders and pursue a civil claim.
- Advise on whether action is proportionate to the loss.
Cannot do
- Act usefully without knowing where the funds went.
- Make an unidentifiable or unreachable defendant reachable.
- Justify their cost on a small loss.
Use it when: The loss is large, the trail reaches an identifiable service or party, and funds may still exist.
The order that wastes least
- 1Stop paying. There is no fee, tax or verification payment that releases funds.
- 2Secure what is left: revoke outstanding wallet approvals, then move remaining balances to a new wallet.
- 3Capture the evidence — transaction hashes, addresses, screenshots with dates and URLs, full emails.
- 4Tell the receiving exchange today. This is the only step with a closing window measured in hours.
- 5Tell your bank in writing if money left a UK account, and report to Action Fraud for the crime reference.
- 6Commission a trace if you do not know where the funds went, or a third party needs the path evidenced.
- 7Take legal advice only if the trace shows an identifiable, reachable endpoint and the loss justifies the cost.
Guides
Longer explanations of tracing, reporting and evidence.
OpenGlossary
Plain definitions of the terms banks and exchanges use.
OpenCryptocurrency fraud in the UK
Reporting routes and timelines in more detail.
OpenNot sure where your funds went?
The first assessment is free, and we will tell you if a trace is not worth it.