How to report an investment scam (UK, US, Canada, Australia and more)
Reporting is essential even if you think it will not help: your bank often needs a report to handle a claim, it helps the police connect cases, and it lets regulators publish warnings that protect others.
What to prepare before reporting
- Screenshots of the ad, the platform’s website or app and your “balance”.
- Conversations: WhatsApp, Telegram, emails, texts. Do not delete them.
- Phone numbers that called you and the names they used.
- Payment records: bank statements, card receipts, wallet addresses and transaction IDs if you paid in crypto.
- A timeline: dates of contact, deposits and withdrawal attempts.
With all that, report to the police or national fraud centre and notify your financial regulator.
United Kingdom
- Action Fraud (England, Wales and Northern Ireland): the national reporting centre for fraud, at actionfraud.police.uk. In Scotland, report to Police Scotland on 101.
- FCA: report unauthorised firms and check its warning list via fca.org.uk.
- Your bank: ask about reimbursement for authorised push payment (APP) fraud.
United States
- FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3): ic3.gov.
- FTC: reportfraud.ftc.gov.
- SEC for securities fraud, or the CFTC for forex and crypto derivatives schemes.
Canada
- Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre and your local police.
- Your provincial securities regulator; you can check registration at aretheyregistered.ca.
Australia
- ReportCyber via cyber.gov.au and Scamwatch at scamwatch.gov.au.
- ASIC for unlicensed investment firms (asic.gov.au).
Ireland
- An Garda Síochána (your local Garda station).
- Central Bank of Ireland: check its register and warnings at registers.centralbank.ie.
India
- National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal: cybercrime.gov.in, or call the 1930 helpline as soon as possible after a payment.
- SEBI for unregistered investment schemes (sebi.gov.in).
Other countries
Report to your national police and your financial regulator. IOSCO’s I-SCAN lists regulator warnings worldwide and can help you find yours.
As well as reporting
- Call your bank as soon as possible: how to try to get a payment back.
- Report the ad on the social network where you saw it.
- Be wary of anyone who contacts you later offering to recover the money or claiming to be the police or regulator: how that impersonation works.
Want to check whether the platform that scammed you is already in our database? Search it here.