How to Get Your Money Back After an Online Scam

Act fast — the first hours matter most

If you think you've been scammed, speed is your biggest advantage. Fraudulent card charges can often be reversed, but wire transfers and payment-app transfers are much harder to claw back once they clear. Do these three things right away, in order:

1. Stop any further payments and don't send more money — especially if someone now offers to "help you recover" the first loss.
2. Contact the bank, card issuer, or payment app you used.
3. Save all your evidence before anything disappears.

Gather your evidence first

You'll need proof for every dispute and report. Take screenshots and keep copies of:

• The order confirmation, receipt, or transaction ID.
• The seller's website, listing, and contact details.
• Emails, texts, and chat messages with the scammer.
• Bank or card statements showing the charge.

If you're not sure a message was even from a real business, paste it into the HasTrust scam checker before you reply or click anything.

What to do based on how you paid

Your odds of a refund depend heavily on your payment method.

Credit card

This is usually the easiest to reverse. Call the fraud number on the back of your card and request a chargeback, explaining the charge is fraudulent or the goods never arrived. Under U.S. billing rules, you generally have 60 days from the statement date to dispute in writing. Follow up your call with a written dispute — send it by certified mail with a return receipt so you have proof it was received. The issuer must acknowledge the dispute within 30 days and typically resolve it within 90.

Debit card

Contact your bank's fraud line immediately, then confirm in writing. Banks generally have 10 business days to investigate unauthorized charges, and often issue a temporary credit while they do. Debit protections are weaker than credit, so act even faster.

Payment apps (Zelle, PayPal, Cash App, Venmo)

These often work like sending cash, so recovery isn't guaranteed — but still try:

• Zelle: report to your bank or credit union, and to Zelle at 1-844-428-8542.
• PayPal: if you paid for Goods and Services, open a case in the Resolution Center.
• Cash App: dispute in the app or call 1-800-969-1940.

Wire transfer

Call the sending bank at once. Wires are hard to reverse, but if it was sent in the last few hours the bank may be able to flag or recall it.

Cryptocurrency or gift cards

These are the hardest to recover. Contact the crypto exchange or the gift-card company's fraud line immediately — sometimes an unspent card balance can be frozen.

Report the scam — it can help you get paid

Reporting won't always trigger a refund, but it builds the official record you'll need and feeds enforcement cases that sometimes return money to victims.

• FTC: file at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. You'll get tailored next steps, and enforcement actions have returned money to consumers.
• FBI IC3: file at ic3.gov, especially for wire fraud or larger losses — the FBI can sometimes coordinate quickly with banks.
• Local police: file a report and keep the report number; banks and insurers often ask for it.
• State attorney general: your state's consumer protection office can add pressure and track patterns.

Protect your accounts

If you gave the scammer login details, card numbers, or personal information, assume it's exposed:

• Change passwords on any affected account and turn on two-factor authentication.
• Ask your bank to reissue a compromised card.
• Consider a fraud alert or credit freeze with the major credit bureaus if your identity was shared.

Watch out for recovery scams

After a loss, you may be contacted by someone promising to get your money back — for an upfront fee, or in exchange for account access. This is almost always a second scam targeting people who were already hit. No legitimate agency charges a fee to recover funds, and no real refund requires you to pay first or hand over passwords. Deal only with your own bank, the card issuer, or official government sites you type in yourself.

How to avoid the next one

Before you buy from an unfamiliar store, slow down and check it. Look for a real physical address and working contact details, reviews that exist off the store's own site, a secure checkout, and prices that aren't wildly below normal. When in doubt, run the shop through HasTrust first — a two-minute check is far cheaper than a chargeback fight later. And whenever possible, pay by credit card, which gives you the strongest path to a refund if something goes wrong.