If You Are in Danger or Losing Money Now: Call Your Bank Fraud Line & Police First

Dial the official phone number on the back of your debit/credit card or inside your verified banking app (never call a phone number sent in an SMS or email). Tell the operator a fraudulent transaction occurred, ask them to freeze compromised cards/accounts, and ask whether a bank-to-bank recall request or card dispute applies. Banks cannot guarantee fund recovery, especially for authorised push transfers or crypto, so speed is critical.

In Australia: file a police report if money was lost or threats were made, report to ACCC Scamwatch (scamwatch.gov.au) and ReportCyber (cyber.gov.au), and contact IDCARE (idcare.org or 1800 595 160) if you shared driver licence, Medicare, or passport details. In the United States: file a complaint immediately with the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (ic3.gov) including recipient bank details, report to the FTC (reportfraud.ftc.gov), and file a local police report.

From a clean device, change your primary email password first, enable hardware or app-based multi-factor authentication, check email forwarding rules for hidden attacker filters, and place a free credit ban/freeze with Equifax, Illion, and Experian (Australia) or Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion (United States).

Anyone messaging you on social media, Telegram, WhatsApp, or sponsored search ads claiming they can "hack back", "trace", or "recover" your lost transfer for an upfront fee or "tax release charge" is running a secondary recovery scam. Neither Agent Scams nor any legitimate government agency charges fees to log a scam report.