Why Speed Matters
The hours immediately following fraud discovery often determine what recovery options remain available. Banks and payment providers work within specific timeframes for disputes and reversals. Digital evidence deteriorates rapidly as platforms remove accounts, criminals delete communications, and transaction trails grow cold.
Emotional responses—shame, denial, anger—commonly delay action. Fraudsters exploit these reactions, knowing that every hour of victim inaction benefits their operation. Treating the situation as an evidence-gathering exercise rather than a personal crisis maximises your practical options.
Most successful recovery efforts share a common thread: victims who acted decisively within the first 72 hours, documenting thoroughly and engaging appropriate channels before critical information disappeared.
Preventing Further Losses
Fraudulent operations rarely stop at one transaction. Sophisticated schemes employ escalating demands—additional "fees" for withdrawal processing, "tax" payments, "verification" charges, or "insurance" deposits. Each payment builds momentum toward the next request.
Stop All Outgoing Transfers
Regardless of what excuses or threats you receive, stop sending money immediately. Claims that your funds are "frozen" and require payment to release represent standard fraud escalation. No legitimate financial institution or investment platform requires fee payments to access your own money.
If you're being told that regulatory compliance, tax obligations, or account verification requires additional deposits before withdrawal, recognise this as a withdrawal trap—the defining characteristic of many investment fraud schemes.
Withdrawal Trap Alert
Any demand for additional payment to "unlock" or "release" your existing funds indicates fraud. Legitimate platforms never require deposits to process withdrawals. Document these demands thoroughly—they provide strong evidence of fraudulent intent.
Remove Remote Access Software
If you installed remote access software at a "support agent's" direction—applications like AnyDesk, TeamViewer, or similar screen-sharing tools—uninstall them immediately. These programs may provide ongoing access to your device, enabling unauthorised transactions or credential theft.
Check your installed programs for unfamiliar applications and review browser extensions for recent additions you don't recognise. Fraudsters sometimes install additional monitoring tools during remote sessions.
Secure Your Payment Methods
Contact your bank and credit card issuers to report potential fraud exposure. Request temporary blocks on compromised cards, enhanced transaction monitoring, or replacement cards with new numbers. If banking credentials were shared, discuss account protection measures with your institution's fraud department.
Locking Down Your Accounts
Beyond stopping immediate financial loss, you must secure digital accounts connected to your financial life. Compromised credentials can enable ongoing theft or identity fraud extending well beyond the initial incident.
Email Account First
Your primary email address serves as the recovery mechanism for most online services. If compromised, attackers can reset passwords across multiple platforms. Change your email password first, using a strong, unique passphrase you haven't used elsewhere. Enable multi-factor authentication immediately.
Review your email's security settings for unauthorised forwarding rules, recovery email changes, or unfamiliar trusted devices. Attackers sometimes establish silent access that persists even after password changes.
Financial Portals
Update credentials for all financial accounts, prioritising those exposed during the fraud. Use unique passwords for each service—password manager applications make this practical. Enable the strongest available authentication, preferring authenticator apps over SMS verification where possible.
Session and Device Reviews
Most major platforms provide visibility into active sessions and trusted devices. Review these lists and terminate any sessions you don't recognise. Remove devices you don't own from trusted device lists. This prevents attackers from maintaining access through previously established sessions.
Gathering Your Proof
Comprehensive evidence forms the foundation for any recovery effort. Whether pursuing bank disputes, chargebacks, legal action, or regulatory complaints, your case strength depends directly on documentation quality.
Priority Evidence to Preserve
- Financial records: bank statements, wire transfer confirmations, credit card statements, e-transfer receipts
- Cryptocurrency data: transaction hashes, wallet addresses, exchange order histories, blockchain explorer screenshots
- Platform documentation: account dashboards, balance displays, withdrawal attempt screens, terms and conditions
- Communications: email threads with headers, messaging app exports, SMS logs, social media conversations
- Perpetrator identifiers: names used, phone numbers, email addresses, website URLs, social profiles
- Promotional materials: advertisements that attracted you, referral communications, marketing messages
Screenshot Best Practices
Capture screenshots showing complete browser windows including the URL bar and visible date/time indicators. Full-screen captures carry more evidentiary weight than cropped images. For mobile content, include the device status bar showing date and time where possible.
Communication Exports
Most messaging platforms allow exporting entire conversation histories. These exports preserve message ordering, timestamps, and often attached media. Export complete histories rather than taking screenshots of individual messages—exported files demonstrate conversation continuity and reduce claims of selective presentation.
Timeline Creation
Create a written timeline recording every significant event: initial contact, each transaction, communications received, withdrawal attempts, and fee demands. Include dates, times, and reference documents for each entry. This chronology becomes your master reference when filing reports or explaining your case.
Reporting the Fraud
Formal reports create official records supporting investigation and may be required for certain recovery mechanisms. Reports also contribute to broader fraud intelligence, potentially helping identify patterns across multiple victims.
Bank and Payment Provider Reports
Beyond protective measures, formally report the fraud through your bank's dispute or fraud reporting process. Obtain case numbers and written acknowledgment of your report. These records may be needed if you later pursue chargebacks or dispute resolution.
Singapore Authorities
ScamAlert (NCPC) serves as a national collection point for fraud reports. Filing creates an official record and contributes to intelligence databases used by law enforcement. The Singapore Cyber Security Agency (CSA) also accepts reports of cyber-enabled fraud. While these agencies don't directly investigate individual cases, their data aggregation can reveal organised operations warranting coordinated response.
Police Report
File a report with your local police service to obtain an incident number. This documentation proves useful for insurance claims, financial institution processes, and potential future proceedings. Bring your evidence folder and timeline to facilitate accurate report preparation.
Platform-Specific Reports
Report the perpetrators' profiles on social media platforms, messaging applications, and any legitimate services they misused. While these reports may not directly recover funds, they can disrupt ongoing operations and prevent additional victims.
Documentation Advantage
Well-organised evidence packages significantly accelerate institutional responses. Financial institutions, recovery specialists, and investigators work more effectively when presented with clear, chronological documentation rather than scattered fragments requiring interpretation.
Mistakes to Avoid
Certain actions, while emotionally understandable, can undermine recovery prospects. Awareness of these common mistakes helps avoid compounding your situation.
Recovery Fraud Schemes
Fraud victim lists circulate among criminal networks. After your initial loss, you may be contacted by "recovery specialists" promising to retrieve your funds for an upfront fee. These operations frequently target recent fraud victims specifically because they're motivated to recover losses.
Legitimate recovery assistance focuses on documentation review and realistic assessment before discussing fees. Any entity guaranteeing specific outcomes or demanding substantial upfront payment warrants extreme scepticism.
Destroying Evidence Early
The impulse to delete communications with fraudsters or wipe compromised devices is understandable but counterproductive. These records contain evidence needed for investigation and recovery efforts. Preserve everything first, then secure your systems.
Ongoing Engagement with Fraudsters
Continuing dialogue with fraudsters rarely produces positive results and often leads to additional manipulation or loss. Once you recognise fraud, minimise further contact. Document any incoming communications without responding. Attempts to "negotiate" or "threaten" perpetrators typically fail and may prompt retaliation.
Inconsistent Accounts
When describing events to different institutions, maintain consistent, factual accounts. Discrepancies between reports—even unintentional ones—can undermine credibility. Use your written timeline to ensure accurate, consistent presentations across all channels.