Lawful mechanisms only · Strict confidentiality

Money taken by a fake broker or trading platform: an honest assessment of what can still be done

We look at how the payment left you, where it went, and which lawful routes are still open: a card chargeback, a claim against a bank or payment provider, a regulator complaint, a police report or a civil claim. Losing money to an operation like this says nothing about your judgement; these schemes are staffed, scripted and rehearsed to work on careful people. The first assessment costs nothing, and if there is no realistic route we say so and decline the case.

  • First assessment of your situation is free
  • Average first reply in about 15 minutes
  • No cold calls: we use the messenger you choose

No forms, no required fields: you write directly and decide what to share.

15 min
Average time to a first reply
7 yrs
Practice in fraud and asset tracing
20+
Blockchains covered in tracing work
Free
First assessment of prospects

Lawful mechanisms only

We work through banks, card schemes, payment providers, exchanges, regulators, police and the courts. No hacking, no bought database access, no contacting or confronting the people who took your money.

Confidential by default

Correspondence stays in the messenger you choose, documents sit in a closed client portal, and your matter is handled by a named lawyer rather than a shared inbox.

We say no when the answer is no

A weak case is not made stronger by paying someone to work on it. If the payment rail, the timing or the destination of the funds leaves nothing realistic to do, we tell you that instead of selling you a plan.

From practice

Anonymised examples of the work we do, shortened and stripped of identifying detail. They describe what was done, not what you should expect: no two matters run the same way, and results are never promised.

Chargeback Card deposits to a trading terminal that later blocked all withdrawals: we established that the payments still fell inside the applicable window, selected the reason code and prepared the dispute file for the issuing bank.
Tracing Transfers sent from a personal wallet to an account funding address: we followed the funds through several hops and identified deposit addresses controlled by regulated exchanges.
Claim Payments routed through an e-money institution to a brand claiming an EU licence: we filed a written claim with the provider setting out its onboarding and monitoring obligations, and escalated when the first answer was a form reply.
Regulator A platform advertising a licence number that belonged to an unrelated company: we filed complaints with the regulator named on the site and with the register whose data had been copied.
Police report A client who had been unable to get a report recorded: we assembled a dated evidence bundle with a fund-flow annex, filed it through the national cybercrime channel and obtained a reference number.
Second wave A recovery department demanding a withdrawal tax months after the original loss: we advised stopping all payments immediately, preserved the correspondence and reported it as a separate fraud.
Vetting A prospective investor asked about a platform before transferring: we checked the register, the corporate record and the withdrawal terms, and advised in writing against sending funds.
Declined A loss paid in cash to an individual with no traceable payment rail: we explained why no realistic mechanism existed and closed the file without charging for the assessment.
What people come to us with

Does any of this sound familiar?

Most people arrive with one of the situations below. They are ordinary, they are common, and recognising yours here is the first step towards knowing whether anything can still be done.

Withdrawals stopped working

The balance on screen keeps rising, but every withdrawal request is delayed, cancelled or permanently under review. The profit shown was usually never real; the deposits were.

You are asked to pay a release tax

A tax, fee, insurance premium or anti-money-laundering deposit is demanded before your funds can be released. Paying it releases nothing. It simply adds a fresh loss to the original one.

An account manager pushing one more top-up

A friendly adviser explains that a margin call, a licence upgrade or a bigger position is all that stands between you and your money. The script is designed to keep deposits flowing while doubt grows.

The platform has vanished

The website is down, the app has gone from the store, the group chat is closed and the numbers are dead. Evidence disappears fastest at this stage, which is why capturing it comes before anything else.

It started with a message

Someone met on a dating app, a professional network or a group chat built trust over weeks, then introduced an investment that looked like their own success. The relationship was part of the scheme.

You already paid for recovery

After the loss, another outfit contacted you offering to get the money back for an advance fee. That is almost always the same fraud coming round a second time, working from a list of known victims.

Describe your situation We reply in 15 minutes on average, and the first review is free.
Practice areas

Four things we do

Each area is handled by a lawyer who works in it. You receive a written position, the documents themselves, and support until the matter is closed one way or the other.

01

Blockchain tracing and a fund-flow report

We follow the money as far as the public record allows and set out the route in a document that other institutions can act on. Tracing shows where funds went; whether they can be reached is a separate question we answer honestly.

  • Transfers followed across public ledgers, hop by hop, from your wallet onwards
  • Identification of deposit addresses that belong to exchanges and other regulated services
  • A written report with transaction hashes, timestamps and the reasoning behind each link
  • A format that banks, exchanges, regulators, police and courts can read and use
Ask about tracing
02

Card chargebacks and claims against banks and payment providers

Where you paid by card, the scheme rules give you a defined procedural route with defined time limits. We work out which ground and which window apply to your payments, then build and file the dispute.

  • Assessment of the applicable reason code and the deadline attached to it
  • Preparation of the chargeback file, including the wording of the dispute
  • Complaints to acquiring banks, payment institutions and e-money providers
  • Escalation to a financial ombudsman or regulator where your jurisdiction offers one
Check my chargeback window
03

Police reports and regulator complaints

A report supported by dated evidence and a fund-flow annex is treated very differently from a two-line complaint. We prepare the filing, submit it through the right channel and keep it moving.

  • Reports to police and national cybercrime channels, including IC3 and Action Fraud
  • Complaints to FCA, CySEC, BaFin, ASIC, SEC and CFTC where a licence is claimed
  • Notices to exchanges and payment services that received the funds
  • Follow-through: reference numbers, named case handlers and written chasers
Prepare my report
04

Vetting a platform before you send money

The cheapest stage of this work is the one before the transfer. We check what a platform actually is, who operates it and what its terms really say, and give you a plain answer in writing.

  • Licence claims checked against the regulator's own public register
  • Corporate records, domain history and the operator behind the brand name
  • Review of withdrawal terms, bonus clauses and the payment route being requested
  • A clear conclusion: proceed, proceed with limits, or do not send funds
Have a platform checked
Our process

How the work runs

No forms to leave and no waiting for a call back. You write in a messenger and get specifics in the same conversation.

  1. 1

    Free assessment

    Describe what happened in a few sentences: what you paid, how you paid it and when. We tell you whether a realistic route exists before any fee is discussed, and we say so plainly if it does not.

  2. 2

    Evidence collection and preservation

    Statements, receipts, transaction hashes, wallet addresses, screenshots of the account and the site, and full chat exports. Much of this vanishes within days, so it is captured, dated and stored first.

  3. 3

    Tracing and document preparation

    Funds are followed as far as the public ledgers allow, and the findings go into a fund-flow report. Around it we build the chargeback file, the complaints and the police report, each written for its recipient.

  4. 4

    Filing and follow-through

    Everything is filed through the proper channel, deadlines are diarised, and every response is answered rather than filed away. You receive a written update at each stage, including when the news is unwelcome.

Clearing up misconceptions

Five things victims are told that are wrong

Myth

Crypto can never be traced or recovered

Fact

Most public ledgers are permanently readable, so the route funds took can usually be reconstructed. What matters is where they came to rest: an account at a regulated exchange can be frozen on a lawful request, while a self-hosted wallet or a mixing service usually cannot be reached at all. Tracing is often possible; return of funds is a separate and much less certain question.

Myth

I sent the money myself, so nothing can be done

Fact

A payment made because you were deliberately deceived is still fraud, and both card scheme rules and criminal law treat it that way. Several jurisdictions also have reimbursement rules for bank transfers induced by deception. Consent obtained by a lie is not the end of the analysis, though it does make some routes harder.

Myth

The police will not take a report like this

Fact

Reports of this kind are recorded through national fraud and cybercrime channels, and a reference number is often required before a bank or regulator will engage with you at all. Individual investigation is not guaranteed and rarely fast. A properly prepared report with dated evidence and a fund-flow annex is far harder to set aside than a short complaint.

Myth

It has been six months, so it is too late

Fact

Chargeback windows depend on the ground being used and commonly run from about 120 up to 540 days, measured from the payment or from the date a service was due. Regulator complaints, police reports and civil claims have their own separate limits. Late is not the same as closed, but every week removes options, so the assessment should happen now rather than after more thought.

Myth

A recovery department is already helping me, they just need a fee

Fact

This is the second wave of the same fraud. Fake fund recovery departments, Interpol lawyers and exchange security teams work from lists of people who have already lost money, and they ask for an advance fee, a withdrawal tax, or access to your wallet. No genuine lawyer, exchange or police unit will ever ask for your seed phrase, your SMS or authenticator codes, or remote access to your computer. Stop paying, keep every message, and report it as a fresh offence.

Commitments

What we guarantee, and what nobody can

A guarantee is only worth something if you can hold someone to it. These are written into the engagement and you are entitled to demand every one of them.

A written assessment of prospects

Before any fee, you get our reading of your case in writing: which routes are open, which are closed, and what each one realistically depends on.

We decline hopeless cases

If the payment rail, the elapsed time or the destination of the funds leaves no realistic mechanism, we say so at the first assessment, at no charge, and we do not take the matter on.

Fees agreed in writing before work starts

The scope and the price are fixed in the engagement before anything begins. There are no fees invented mid-case, and no payment is ever requested to unlock, release or insure your funds.

We never ask for seed phrases or codes

Not your seed phrase, not a private key, not an SMS or authenticator code, not remote access to your device. Anyone asking for those is not working for you, whoever they claim to be.

Confidentiality

Your file is visible only to the lawyer assigned to it. Nothing is shared with third parties except the documents you instruct us to file, and nothing is published as a case study without your written consent.

A report at every stage

You are told what has been filed, what has come back and what is next, in writing, at each step. That includes refusals and dead ends, which you hear from us rather than discover later.

Honest about the limits. No lawyer, firm or agency can guarantee that money will be returned, and any promise of recovery is itself a warning sign. The outcome rests with banks, card schemes, payment providers, exchanges, regulators, police and courts, on whether the funds still exist somewhere the law can reach, and on how much time has passed since payment. What we can guarantee is the quality of the work, the honesty of the assessment and the fee agreed before we begin.

Frequently asked questions

Questions people ask first

Direct answers, including the ones that are not what anyone wants to hear.

The first assessment is free and carries no obligation. If there is work worth doing, the scope and the fee are agreed in writing before it starts, either as a fixed fee for a defined piece of work or in stages. We do not charge release fees, withdrawal taxes or unlocking payments, because no such thing exists anywhere in this process.
Yes. We trace transfers across the major public ledgers and prepare fund-flow reports that exchanges, banks, regulators and police can act on. Crypto is also the hardest rail to work with: if the funds reached a self-hosted wallet or a mixing service, tracing may show exactly where they went with no lawful way to bring them back. We tell you which of those two situations you are in before you spend anything.
They depend mostly on how you paid and how long ago. Card payments have the clearest route, because the scheme rules provide a defined dispute procedure; bank transfers are harder and rely on the receiving bank, reimbursement rules and police cooperation; crypto is hardest, and often the honest answer is that the funds cannot be reached. Time matters as much as method, since every window narrows. You will get our real read of your case, not an encouraging one.
Tracing usually takes a few days. A chargeback normally runs from several weeks to a few months, depending on the bank and whether the merchant contests it. Regulator complaints, police reports and civil claims run on their own timetables and are often measured in months. We give you the realistic timeline for your route at the start rather than at the end.
Stop sending money, whatever reason is given for the next payment. Save everything: bank and card statements, payment receipts, transaction hashes and wallet addresses, screenshots of your account and of the website, and the full chat history exported as a file rather than photographed. Do not delete the app or the conversation, and do not tell the other side that you are taking advice.
A card payment gives you the strongest procedural route available: a chargeback under the scheme rules, filed through your issuing bank. Whether it succeeds depends on the ground relied on, the evidence and the time elapsed, with windows commonly running between 120 and 540 days depending on the reason code. It is a genuine mechanism with genuine refusals, so we assess your specific payments and tell you how they look before anything is filed.
No. Anyone offering to negotiate with, hack, pressure or buy off the people who took your money is either lying to you or proposing to commit further offences in your name. Where funds do come back, it happens through banks, card schemes, exchanges, regulators, police and courts. Treat every such offer as the second wave of the same fraud, and keep the messages so it can be reported.
Yes. These schemes are cross-border by design, and it is normal for the victim, the platform, the bank and the wallet to sit in four different jurisdictions. We work in English, file with the police and regulator channels appropriate to where you and your payments are, and bring in local counsel where a step requires admission in that country. Tell us where you are and where the money went, and we will map the routes that apply to you.
How it works

Where the money goes and where it can be stopped

Funds almost never disappear without a trace: they travel through a chain of addresses and sooner or later reach a platform that has a compliance team and a duty to know its customer. That is the point where there is something to push against.

Your payment

A card payment, a transfer or a crypto purchase. This leaves a banking trail — the most valuable document in a case.

Receiving wallet

The address the platform gave you. It often shows up in other complaints too, and that strengthens your position.

Splitting and forwarding

The amount is split and moved along a chain of addresses. A public blockchain records every step, so the chain can be reconstructed.

Cash-out point

The exchange or swap service where the money is cashed out into currency. A platform like this has a compliance team, customer records and a duty to answer requests.

Freeze and demand

The report on the movement of funds is attached to the police report, to the request sent to the platform and to the court claim. After that the outcome turns on the law and the deadlines, not on negotiations with fraudsters.

The diagram is simplified and shows the principle, not a guarantee. Some chains end at platforms that never answer requests, and some funds are moved out faster than a report can be filed. That is why we look at your case first and only then say whether it makes sense to go further.

Client portal

Client portal: your case in one place

Correspondence, documents and the current status of your matter, available at any hour from a phone or a computer. Registration takes about a minute and costs nothing.

Only the lawyer assigned to your matter can see your file. Nothing is passed to anyone else except the documents you instruct us to file, and we never ask you for seed phrases, passwords or one-time codes.

1

A named lawyer

Your matter is assigned to one person who knows the file. You deal with them directly rather than with a shared inbox or a rotating queue.

2

Evidence and documents in one place

Statements, screenshots, transaction hashes and every document filed on your behalf are stored together and dated, so nothing has to be found again in a chat history.

3

A clear case status

What has been filed, what is waiting on a bank, regulator or police channel, and which deadline comes next, all visible without having to ask.

4

A questionnaire instead of repeated interviews

You set out the facts once, in your own time and in writing. We come back with specific follow-up questions rather than asking you to retell the whole story.

We can look at your situation today

Describe what happened in two or three sentences and a lawyer will tell you which routes are open, which are closed, and what to preserve now. There is no charge for that and no obligation to go any further.

Client portal — messages with your specialist, documents and case status in one place.

Client portal
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