How to Report a Scammer: Bank, FTC, FBI, and Police

To report a scammer, file complaints with your bank or credit card issuer, the Federal Trade Commission at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) at ic3.gov, and your local police department. Move quickly. Federal law ties your financial liability directly to how fast you notify your bank, and missing certain deadlines can leave you responsible for the full amount stolen.

The order matters. Call your financial institution first, because that call is what can actually get your money back and stop further losses. Federal reports create the record that helps investigators identify the scam operation and, in some cases, disrupt it.

Call Your Bank or Card Issuer First

The clock on your liability starts when you learn about the loss or theft of your card or account access, not when the scammer moved the money. Call the fraud number on the back of your card or on your bank’s website as soon as you spot an unfamiliar transaction.

Debit Cards and Bank Accounts

Federal law caps your liability for unauthorized electronic transfers on a sliding scale:

Report within 2 business days of learning about the loss, and your maximum liability is $50 (or the amount taken before you notified the bank, whichever is less).¹
Report after 2 business days but within 60 days of the statement showing the transfer, and your liability can rise to $500.¹
Wait longer than 60 days after that statement, and you can be responsible for the entire amount of any unauthorized transfers that occur after the 60-day window.²

Credit Cards

Federal law caps your liability for unauthorized credit card charges at $50 regardless of when you report, as long as you did not authorize the use.³ Most major issuers voluntarily offer zero-liability policies. To formally dispute a fraudulent charge, send written notice to your card issuer within 60 days after the first statement containing the error was sent to you.⁴

Wire Transfers

If you sent money by wire, ask your bank immediately to initiate a recall. International wire recalls are most likely to succeed within 24 to 48 hours, before the recipient withdraws or moves the funds. Once the money leaves the receiving account, recovery typically requires legal action that can stretch weeks or months depending on the destination country.

File With the FTC

The FTC takes fraud reports through its portal at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. The information you submit feeds into Consumer Sentinel, a secure database shared with more than 2,800 law enforcement agencies worldwide.⁵ The FTC does not usually investigate individual complaints, but the aggregated data helps agencies identify and act against large-scale fraud operations.⁶

The online form walks you through selecting the type of scam, describing what happened, and entering the financial details. Complete every field you can. Save the confirmation number the system generates; you will reuse it when reporting elsewhere and when working with your bank.

If the scammer used your personal information to open accounts, file taxes, or otherwise pretend to be you, file a separate report at IdentityTheft.gov. That site generates a personalized recovery plan with pre-filled letters and checklists.⁷

File With the FBI’s IC3

The Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov handles complaints about internet-based fraud, including investment scams, romance fraud, business email compromise, cryptocurrency theft, and tech support schemes.⁸ IC3 complaints go directly to FBI field offices and federal task forces for potential criminal investigation.

The IC3 form asks for your personal information, the subject’s details, a description of the incident, and financial transaction data, including whether you lost money and the total loss amount.⁸ Check every account number, routing number, and cryptocurrency wallet address against your records before submitting. Save the confirmation number. Direct follow-up from an investigator happens only when a case meets internal thresholds, but your complaint still contributes to the pattern data the FBI uses to identify fraud rings.

File a Local Police Report

Visit your local precinct in person or call the non-emergency line. The desk officer will take a summary and generate an official case number. Local police often lack jurisdiction over an out-of-state or overseas scammer, but the report itself still matters.

A police report is one of the documents that qualifies as an “identity theft report” under federal law, which you need to place an extended fraud alert on your credit files.⁹ Banks, insurers, and credit bureaus may also request a copy. Some departments charge a small fee for report copies, though many waive fees for crime victims. Keep the case number handy for every future interaction related to the fraud.

Report to the Right Specialized Agency

Some scams should go to an agency with jurisdiction over that specific channel, in addition to the FTC and IC3.

Mail Fraud

If any part of the scam used the U.S. mail, including letters, packages, sweepstakes mailings, or lottery solicitations, report it to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service at uspis.gov under the “Mail Fraud” category, by phone at 1-877-876-2455, or by written complaint to the Criminal Investigations Service Center in Chicago.¹⁰

Social Security Impersonation

Scammers often pose as Social Security Administration employees, threatening arrest or benefit suspension. Report these attempts to the SSA’s Office of the Inspector General through its online portal.¹¹

State Attorney General

Your state attorney general’s office accepts consumer fraud complaints and uses them to decide which businesses or scam operations to investigate. The office generally cannot represent you personally or recover your money, but a complaint contributes to enforcement patterns. Search your state AG’s website for the consumer complaint form.

Report to Payment Apps and Platforms

Peer-to-peer payment services like Zelle, Venmo, and Cash App handle fraud through their own internal processes. If you paid a scammer through one of these apps, report the transaction inside the app first, then file a separate report with the FTC.¹² Also contact the bank linked to the payment app, since the bank may have additional protections.

If the scam originated on a social media platform or online marketplace, use the platform’s built-in reporting tools to flag the profile or listing. That can get the account taken down and stop other people from being targeted.

What to Gather Before You File

Strong reports lead to stronger investigations, and the same evidence packet will serve every report you file. Collect what you can:

The scammer’s identifying details: full name or alias, phone numbers, email addresses, social media profiles, and mailing addresses.
Communication records: screenshots of texts, emails (with full headers if you can pull them), messages, and voicemails.
Financial records: bank and card statements showing the fraudulent charges, wire transfer receipts, and any account or routing numbers the scammer sent you.⁸
Cryptocurrency details, if applicable: wallet addresses, transaction IDs (hashes), the type and amount of crypto sent, and the date and time of each transaction.¹³
Technical evidence: URLs of fraudulent websites, IP addresses from suspicious emails, and other metadata.
A written timeline from first contact through the most recent communication.

Save digital files with clear, descriptive names and scan any paper documents. The FTC, IC3, your bank, and local police all need the same core details.

Lock Down Your Credit

If the scammer got your Social Security number, bank account details, or other identifying information, protect your credit before fraudulent accounts appear.

Credit Freezes

A credit freeze blocks credit bureaus from sharing your credit report with new creditors, which prevents someone from opening accounts in your name. Each of the three major bureaus — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — must place a freeze free of charge within one business day of an online or phone request, and must lift it within one hour of an online or phone request.⁹ You will need to lift it temporarily whenever you apply for new credit.

Fraud Alerts

A fraud alert is less restrictive. It tells creditors to take extra steps to verify your identity before opening new accounts, without blocking access to your report. An initial fraud alert lasts one year and requires no documentation. An extended fraud alert lasts seven years but requires an identity theft report, such as a police report or an FTC Identity Theft Report from IdentityTheft.gov.⁹ Contact one bureau; it must notify the other two.

If Your Social Security Number Was Exposed

Report the exposure through IdentityTheft.gov to get a recovery plan.¹⁴ Freeze your credit at all three bureaus and monitor your reports for unfamiliar accounts. In rare cases involving confirmed, ongoing misuse, you can ask the SSA for a new Social Security number, though this is a last resort.

Can You Deduct the Loss on Your Taxes?

Usually not. For personal losses, money taken from your personal bank account or a scam that targeted you as a consumer, theft loss deductions are generally unavailable unless the loss is connected to a federally declared disaster.¹⁵

The rules differ for losses on income-producing property or transactions entered into for profit. If you lost money in an investment scam, you may be able to claim a theft loss deduction under Section 165 of the Internal Revenue Code. The loss must result from conduct that qualifies as theft under your state’s criminal law, and you must have no reasonable prospect of recovering the funds.¹⁵ The line between personal and profit-related transactions is fact-specific, so talk to a tax professional about your situation.

1
eCFR. 12 CFR 1005.6 – Liability of Consumer for Unauthorized Transfers
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1693g – Consumer Liability
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1643 – Liability of Holder of Credit Card
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666 – Correction of Billing Errors
5
Federal Trade Commission. ReportFraud.ftc.gov – Report Fraud
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 45 – Unfair Methods of Competition Unlawful
7
Federal Trade Commission. IdentityTheft.gov
8
Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). IC3 Complaint Form
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681c-1 – Identity Theft Prevention; Fraud Alerts
10
United States Postal Inspection Service. Report a Crime
11
Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General. Report Scams
12
Consumer Advice. Do You Use Payment Apps Like Venmo, CashApp, or Zelle? Read This
13
Federal Bureau of Investigation. Cryptocurrency Investment Fraud
14
Social Security Administration. Report Stolen Social Security Number
15
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 547 (2025), Casualties, Disasters, and Thefts