As cryptocurrency scams continue to evolve, targeting unsuspecting investors through increasingly convincing tactics, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has issued a stark warning about a new layer of exploitation. Criminals are now impersonating legal professionals—fabricating law firms or posing as legitimate attorneys—to prey on individuals who already fell victim to previous crypto frauds. These so-called “crypto recovery scams” have become a lucrative follow-up crime, with reported losses exceeding $9.9 million between February 2023 and February 2024.
Criminals Exploit Victim Hope with Fake Law Firm Recovery Scams
In a public service announcement issued by the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), the agency detailed how scammers are engineering increasingly sophisticated fraud operations. The latest scheme involves contacting prior victims of cryptocurrency fraud under the guise of providing legal recovery services.
Scam Tactics Blend Psychological Manipulation with Technical Deception
These scammers make contact via social media or alternative digital messaging platforms, presenting themselves as representatives of law firms. Often, they bolster their false legitimacy by claiming authorizations or partnerships with government agencies such as the FBI or the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Victims are then told that their funds can be recovered—pending either upfront fees or other fictitious process payments.
Common fraudulent tactics include:
- Requesting personally identifiable information (PII) or banking credentials under identity verification pretexts
- Demanding payment in cryptocurrency or prepaid gift cards
- Asking for fees to cover “back taxes,” legal documentation, or success-based recovery balances
- Providing forged legal documents and access to fake bank websites to impersonate recovery progress
These secondary recovery scams exploit not only the technical naiveté of prior victims but also their desperation to reclaim lost funds. According to Decrypt, scammers frequently reference real financial institutions or government entities and use information from the prior scams to build further trust.
FBI Confirms Pattern and Scale of Financial Losses
The IC3 data, cited across multiple sources, confirms just how widespread the problem has become. From February 2023 to February 2024 alone, victims of these follow-up scams reported over $9.9 million in cumulative losses. This does not include the original amounts lost to the initial cryptocurrency frauds, making the true financial cost to victims even higher.
Researchers highlighted additional context on the scale of ongoing crypto threats, reporting that approximately $2.5 billion in digital assets were lost to cybersecurity breaches, hacks, and scams in the first half of 2025. The prevalence of these multi-phased attacks underscores a growing ecosystem of fraudulent operations leveraging a combination of cybercrime, social engineering, and deception.
FBI Issues Strong Guidance to Avoid Being Re-Victimized
In response to the uptick in crypto recovery scams, the FBI urges individuals to adopt a “zero trust” posture when approached with unsolicited recovery offers, especially those involving legal or government affiliations.
Red Flags Identified by the FBI
The agency outlines several warning signs and best practices for avoiding these scams:
- Be skeptical of any “law firm” offering unsolicited crypto recovery services, particularly if you never reported the original fraud through official law enforcement channels
- Understand that legitimate law enforcement—whether the FBI or CFPB—does not charge victims for investigative services
- Validate any attorney’s or firm’s credentials independently through state bar associations or legal registries
- Avoid providing sensitive information such as Social Security numbers, bank account details, or wallet credentials unless verified through secure and legitimate means
- Never agree to pay in cryptocurrency or gift cards, which are common tools used by scammers to obscure financial trails
Decrypt emphasized the value of requesting verifiable legal identification and maintaining a detailed record of any suspicious outreach.
Cybersecurity experts recommend reporting all such incidents to the FBI via the IC3 website, ideally including the scammer’s contact details, claims made, payment instructions, and any associated transactional data.
Reporting can Prevent Larger Systemic Harm
Accurate and prompt reporting helps law enforcement assess patterns across multiple complaints and potentially tie them to known threat actors. The FBI’s IC3 platform remains the central repository for these complaints in cases where individuals feel they’ve encountered a fraudulent crypto recovery scheme.
“Law enforcement does not charge victims to investigate crimes,” the FBI reiterated in its advisory. “Requests for payment in exchange for services to recover funds should be seen as a clear warning sign.”
The Broader Cybersecurity Implications of Secondary Crypto Scams
Beyond individual financial recovery, the trend of fake law firms targeting crypto scam victims reflects a deeper challenge in defending users from complex multi-phase fraud. As blockchain-based theft continues to surge and traditional avenues like civil litigation remain inaccessible for many, threat actors are adapting accordingly—targeting not just technical vulnerabilities but exploiting emotional and psychological ones as well.
For CISOs, fraud analysts, and legal advisory teams within cryptocurrency platforms, this adds another vector to anticipate and mitigate. Investing in education, customer warnings, and support for scam victims—including secure pathways to report fraud—may help curb the impact of these attacks.
In today’s volatile digital asset ecosystem, any offer that sounds too good to be true likely is. The FBI’s alert serves as a reminder that recovery scams build on already-damaging crypto schemes—compounding victims’ financial losses and eroding trust in legitimate services. As criminals continue to refine their operations, skepticism and verification remain paramount defenses.
