Helping someone after a scam

It’s their account, so they do the talking. You dial, take notes, and keep the list.

If it’s happening now

They just told you. Say: “I’m glad you told me. Let’s call the bank.” Save the questions.

Someone may still be connected. If they’re still on the phone or in a chat, hang up and stop replying. Screenshot the messages before blocking anyone. If anyone was on the computer, hold its power button until it turns off, even if the call has ended. The program they installed can keep running. Steps: Someone is on the line or on my screen right now.

Someone is coming to pick up cash, gold, or a card. Call 911. No real bank, agency, or company sends a courier for any of these.

They still think it’s real. If they’re still talking to the person or planning another payment, start here instead: Someone I love is being scammed right now.

It’s a teen, and someone is threatening to share photos. Start here instead: Someone is threatening to share photos of me.

Then call the bank. Or the payment company, if that’s who they paid. Use the number on the back of the card, on a statement, or inside the app. Sit with them and put it on speaker.

What to say

• I'm glad you told me. Let's call the bank.

• My mom's the account holder, and she's right here on speaker. She was scammed this morning. She'll answer your questions, and I'm here to take notes. Once she's verified, can she okay me to talk with you on this call?

• Can you send us that decision in writing, with what you based it on?

• I don't pay anyone to get money back. If this is real, I'll call your office on a number I look up myself.

If something already left your hands

Gift cards, crypto, and cash each start with a different call than the bank. The steps for every kind of payment are on I paid or sent money.

On the call

The rep will want the account owner, so they answer the security questions. If the rep won’t talk to you, don’t answer as them. Write the next question down and hand it over.

Ask the bank to check for new payees, new devices, and a changed phone number or email, and to lock online banking until the passwords are changed.

Before anyone hangs up, get the case number, the rep’s name, and what happens next.

If they sent the money themselves by Zelle, wire, or a payment app, the bank or app may treat it as authorized, and it often isn’t paid back. Ask them to try to pull it back anyway (a “recall”). If the answer is no, ask for the decision in writing, then file a complaint at consumerfinance.gov/complaint. If you file it for them, attach their signed permission, or the company may not answer.

Money the scammer moved, using a code, a password, or control of the computer, is different. Federal rules (Regulation E) treat it as unauthorized. Have them say so on the call. Wires aren’t covered.

Sent a wire or crypto? File at ic3.gov at the same time as the first call.

Don’t promise the money’s coming back. Let the bank answer that.

After the call, in this order

1. Passwords, from a device the scammer never touched: email first, then the bank. Where an account offers a passkey or an authenticator app, set it up together. Text-message codes are better than nothing. I gave out a code, password, or card number. If someone was on the computer, don’t bank on it until it’s cleaned up: I let someone control my computer.
2. A credit freeze at Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, if they gave out a Social Security number. It’s free, doesn’t affect their credit score, and lasts until they lift it. Contact each one separately.
3. One log. A notebook or one document: every call, case number, name, and date. Keep it with them, not only on your phone, so they can handle the next call without you. Save evidence without spiraling.
4. Reports. ReportFraud.ftc.gov for any scam, and ic3.gov if it happened online, by text, by email, or in an app. The FBI says you can file an IC3 complaint for someone else. If someone came to the house, also file a police report on the non-emergency line, and log the number.
5. Alerts. If their bank and card apps can text them about every payment, turn that on together.

If they’re 60 or older, call the National Elder Fraud Hotline. A case manager can help fill out the FBI and FTC reports, and you can call for them. It doesn’t investigate, and it can’t promise money back.

Practice

Saturday, 11:42 a.m. A text from your mom.

Mom

Text Message
Today 11:42 AM

I think I did something really stupid

A man from Microsoft fixed a virus on my computer and said he'd refund me $399 but he typed $3,990 by mistake. I sent back the extra $3,591 with Zelle

I hung up and now I don't think it was real. Please don't be mad

What do you text back first?

• "What exactly did he say? Start from the beginning."
• "Call your bank right now."
• "Not mad. Hold the computer's power button till it goes off. Then call the number on the back of your card, and call me after."
• "Don't worry, Zelle can be reversed. I'll sort it out tonight."

Show the answers

• Wrong move "What exactly did he say? Start from the beginning." The story can wait. Right now her computer may still be connected to him, and the bank doesn't know yet. Going over it now also makes it about what she did wrong.
• Okay "Call your bank right now." The right call, but say which number: the one on the back of her card, not one he gave her. And hanging up doesn't end his connection to her computer. Turning it off does.
• Best move "Not mad. Hold the computer's power button till it goes off. Then call the number on the back of your card, and call me after." No blame, and the two things that can't wait: cut him off the computer, then the bank, on a number she already has. The "extra" $3,990 was most likely her own money, moved between her accounts while he was connected. The $3,591 she sent back is the real loss.
• Wrong move "Don't worry, Zelle can be reversed. I'll sort it out tonight." A Zelle payment she sent herself may count as authorized, and often isn't paid back. Promising it sets her up for a second blow. And the bank call shouldn't wait until tonight.

First reply: no blame, no promises, and the next step. How it happened can wait until the computer is off and the bank knows.

An hour later, at her kitchen table. You dialed the number on the back of her debit card and put it on speaker.

(614) 555-0127

Outgoing call · 12:51 PM

1. Rep Fernmont Bank, this is Marcus. Who am I speaking with?
2. You I'm calling for my mom. Someone scammed her out of $3,591 on Zelle this morning.
3. Rep I'm sorry to hear that. Are you an owner on the account?
4. You No, but she's right here.
5. Rep I can only discuss the account with an account owner.
6. Mom Can't you just do it? I'll get it wrong.

She wants you to handle it. What do you do?

• Answer the security questions for her. You know her details
• Hang up and call back once you have power of attorney
• She answers his questions. You take notes: case number, his name, what to ask next
• Tell Marcus she's too upset and ask him to make an exception

Show the answers

• Wrong move Answer the security questions for her. You know her details You'd be doing what the scammer did: answering the bank's questions as someone you're not. She's sitting right there and can answer for herself.
• Wrong move Hang up and call back once you have power of attorney That's paperwork for another week. The bank needs to hear about this today, and she can tell them herself.
• Best move She answers his questions. You take notes: case number, his name, what to ask next It's her account, so she does the answering. You do the part that's hard when you're upset: the list, the notes, the case number. Once she's verified, she can ask whether she can okay you for the rest of the call.
• Wrong move Tell Marcus she's too upset and ask him to make an exception That's asking him to skip the check that protects her account. A rep who'd skip it for you would skip it for the next caller.

On their accounts, they talk and you write. Don't answer as them, even to save time.

Two weeks later. Your dad filed a police report about the scam. This voicemail is on his phone.

(614) 555-0188

Voicemail · 3:17 PM

1. Caller Hi, this message is for Robert Hale. This is Detective Ana Ruiz with the sheriff's office, following up on the fraud report you filed on the 14th.
2. Caller I have a couple of questions about the payments. Please call me back at 614-555-0188, extension 2214. Thanks.

Nothing in it asks for money. What do you do?

• Call back the number she left. She knows about the report
• Ignore it. Anyone calling about the scam is another scammer
• Look up the sheriff's office number on its website and ask for Detective Ruiz
• Call back and ask for her badge number before you say anything

Show the answers

• Wrong move Call back the number she left. She knows about the report It may well be her. But calling the number in a message only reaches whoever left it. The office's own number is the one part you can check.
• Wrong move Ignore it. Anyone calling about the scam is another scammer Real investigators do call back about reports, and she may need something only your dad has. Check it instead of ignoring it.
• Best move Look up the sheriff's office number on its website and ask for Detective Ruiz If she's real, the front desk puts you through and you've spent five minutes. If she isn't, you've given nobody anything.
• Wrong move Call back and ask for her badge number before you say anything Anyone can recite a badge number, and you'd be checking her with the number she gave you.

Some calls about the scam will be real. Return them through a number you look up yourself. A request for a fee, a code, or account numbers is the next scam.

What they’ll hear next

The FTC says scammers buy, sell, and trade lists of people who’ve been scammed, so expect more calls, texts, and letters for a while. Give them one line for all of it: “I don’t pay anyone to get money back. If this is real, I’ll call your office on a number I look up myself.”

“We’ve recovered your money. There’s a fee to release it.” Real agencies and organizations don’t charge to help you get a refund, and don’t ask for account numbers. A law firm or “recovery service” that contacts them and wants a fee or a cut is the same second scam: Someone offers to get my money back.

“This is the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.” IC3 says it never contacts people by phone, email, social media, or apps, and never refers victims to a company that charges. Hang up. A real follow-up comes from a local FBI field office or other law enforcement. Look the office up yourself: FBI field offices.

“This is your bank’s fraud department, about your claim. Read me the code.” Hang up and call the number on the card. Nobody who calls them gets a code.

“I’m following up on the police report you filed.” It may be real. Call back through the department’s main number, looked up yourself.

A familiar voice, a caller ID, or someone knowing the exact amount proves nothing.

The weeks after

Skip “How did you fall for that?” and “I told you so.” You want to be the first person they call next time.

Don’t take over. Ask before you sign in to anything, change a password, or call on their behalf.

Shame, anger, and bad sleep can come back for a while. If it turns into not eating, not leaving the house, or talk of not wanting to be here, call or text 988 together.

Places to talk, for them or for you:

• AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline, free, for anyone, including family helping someone: 877-908-3360. Guidance and support. It doesn’t investigate or recover money.
• AARP’s fraud victim support groups: free, confidential, online, led by trained facilitators. Family members can join.
• VictimConnect, call or text: 855-484-2846. Support and referrals after any crime.
• 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, call or text 24/7: 988.

Taxes. Ask a tax preparer about a theft-loss deduction before they file. A 2025 IRS legal memo said some scam losses qualify: a fake investment (including one a romance scammer steered them into), savings moved “to protect it” on a scammer’s say-so, and money a scammer took from accounts they got into. Money sent to a romance scammer for a made-up emergency, or to a fake kidnapper, didn’t. Money taken out of a retirement account may be taxed as a withdrawal, even though it was stolen.

If it keeps happening

One scam doesn’t mean they can’t manage their money.

If they keep getting caught, or keep sending money they can’t afford, there are steps short of taking over:

• A trusted contact at their brokerage. The firm can call that person if it can’t reach them or suspects exploitation. It gives that person no power to see balances or move money.
• A power of attorney, set up while they can choose who it is. The CFPB has plain guides for whoever is named.
• Adult Protective Services takes reports of financial exploitation of older adults and adults with disabilities. Each state has its own number.