How to Report Crypto Scams to Law Enforcement
A step-by-step guide for victims of digital asset theft — and a free case review if you want help getting your report right.
Crypto scams move fast, and the hours after you realize what happened matter more than almost anything that follows. Fraudulent platforms go offline, chat accounts get deleted, and stolen funds are layered through wallets within days. What survives is the blockchain record — and whatever evidence you preserve before it disappears.
- Licensed NY Private Investigator
- CAMS · CFE · TRM Certified Investigator
- 20+ years investigative experience
- No recovery guarantees — ever
- A free, confidential consultation with a licensed New York private investigator
- A review of what evidence you actually have — before you file
- Blockchain tracing that identifies where your funds went and where they came to rest
- Documentation organized in a format law enforcement can act on
Get a free case review
Tell us what happened and what you still have access to — wallet addresses, transaction hashes, screenshots. A StonePath investigator will review your matter and follow up confidentially.
Do not submit seed phrases, private keys, passwords, or recovery phrases.
This is a paid professional investigation service. The consultation is free; the investigative work is a scoped, fee-based engagement with a licensed investigator.
Is this the right fit?
We can help with
- Tracing where your stolen cryptocurrency was moved
- Investment fraud, romance scams, and fake-platform losses
- Documentation you can file with law enforcement or an attorney
- An honest assessment of what is realistically possible
We cannot help with
- Recovering a lost seed phrase or wallet password
- Unlocking a wallet or recovering private keys
- Guaranteed money-back recovery of stolen funds
- Free do-it-yourself guidance for tracing your own funds
- Confirming or checking results produced by an AI chat tool
- Matters with no blockchain or cryptocurrency component
Why the First 72 Hours Matter
Stolen cryptocurrency is usually consolidated and moved toward cash-out points quickly. While funds are still sitting at a regulated exchange, a documented report can sometimes lead to a freeze. Once assets are converted, bridged, or routed through mixing services, the trail stays traceable but the practical options narrow. Report early even if your documentation is incomplete — you can supplement it later.
What to Do First: Six Immediate Steps
Work through these in order. Each one protects either your remaining assets or the evidence an investigator and a prosecutor will later need.
Stop All Further Payments
No legitimate platform requires additional deposits, taxes, or 'release fees' before returning your own funds. Every additional payment increases your loss and rarely produces a withdrawal. Cut off contact with anyone requesting more money, including people offering to help you recover what you already lost.
Preserve Everything Before It Disappears
Fraud operators routinely delete accounts, take down websites, and block victims once they suspect the scheme has been discovered. Screenshot conversations, dashboards, wallet addresses, and webpages immediately — including timestamps and full URLs — before that evidence is removed.
Secure Your Remaining Accounts
Change passwords on exchanges, email, and banking, enable two-factor authentication, and move any remaining digital assets to a wallet the scammer never had visibility into. If you installed remote-access or 'support' software at their direction, remove it and have the device reviewed.
Notify Your Exchange or Bank Quickly
Exchanges can sometimes flag or freeze funds that are still sitting on their platform, but only if they are notified fast and given specific transaction hashes and addresses. Banks may be able to recall recent wire or ACH transfers used to purchase the cryptocurrency.
Report to Law Enforcement
File with both your local police department and the appropriate federal agencies. Local reports create the case number that many exchanges, insurers, and civil attorneys require; federal reports feed national datasets that link your loss to larger criminal networks.
Be Skeptical of 'Recovery' Offers
Victims of crypto scams are frequently targeted a second time by fake recovery agents who promise guaranteed returns for an upfront fee. No legitimate investigator can guarantee recovery, and no legitimate investigator will contact you out of the blue after your loss.
The Documentation Law Enforcement Needs
Most crypto complaints stall because they arrive as a narrative without verifiable identifiers. An officer cannot act on "I sent Bitcoin to a trading site." They can act on a transaction hash, a receiving address, and a dated record of what was sent.
Assemble the following into a single folder, with a one-page summary on top:
Keep originals intact. Do not crop, edit, or retype screenshots and logs — export them where the platform allows it. Altered evidence is easy to challenge later and can undermine an otherwise strong case.
How StonePath Helps
StonePath's Tier 1 engagement exists for exactly this situation: victims who need a cryptocurrency complaint presented in a clearer, more organized format for law enforcement. It supports departments handling complex crypto matters with limited time, staffing, or blockchain experience.
What You Provide
- Wallet addresses you sent funds to
- Transaction hashes (TXIDs) for each transfer
- Exchange account records, statements, or screenshots
- Screenshots of the platform, dashboard, and fee demands
- Chat, message, and email logs with the parties involved
- A timeline of the incident, as best you can reconstruct it
- Copies of any reports already filed, with case numbers
What StonePath Provides
- A plain-language incident summary law enforcement can read in minutes
- A transaction graph showing the flow of funds from your wallet through each hop
- Multi-hop tracing that identifies where the funds came to rest
- Identification of end wallets and exchange interaction points that can be served with legal process
- Exchange exposure review across the addresses in your matter
- A structured summary of key transaction activity, organized for investigative referral
Scope & Limitations
- Investigative support only — deliverables are analytical findings and leads, not a litigation-ready or court-certified product.
- Law enforcement and counsel must independently verify all findings and pursue any legal action through their own process.
- StonePath is not a crypto recovery service and does not guarantee recovery of lost funds. Be wary of any firm that promises guaranteed recovery, demands upfront "release fees" or taxes, takes a percentage of recovered funds, or contacts victims out of the blue — those are hallmarks of a second scam.
Why Bringing In a Firm Like StonePath Matters
Law enforcement agencies are rarely short on willingness — they are short on time, staffing, and blockchain-specific tooling. A complaint that arrives as a narrative with a few screenshots usually sits. A complaint that arrives with a documented transaction trail, identified counterparties, and exchange exposure can be acted on.
Engaging a licensed investigator helps expedite results: a detailed trace of where your assets moved and which regulated platforms received them gives investigators a clear starting point instead of a blank page, so they can advance the matter faster and more efficiently.
Engagements are flat-rate or retainer-based and scoped during a free consultation. Work is performed by a licensed New York private investigator holding CAMS, CFE, and TRM Certified Investigator credentials, with more than 20 years of investigative experience including law enforcement.
Where to File Your Report
File with more than one agency. Each serves a different purpose, and reports made in parallel are how individual losses get connected to the larger operation behind them.
Your Local Police Department
File an in-person or online report and request a written case number. Bring your documentation package printed and on a USB drive. Many departments have limited blockchain experience, so a clear, organized summary substantially improves how the report is handled and referred.
FBI IC3 — Internet Crime Complaint Center
The federal clearinghouse for internet-enabled financial crime, at ic3.gov. Include every wallet address and transaction hash in the complaint. IC3 data is used to identify clusters of related victims and to support seizure actions against consolidated fraud proceeds.
FTC — Federal Trade Commission
Report at reportfraud.ftc.gov. This does not open an individual investigation, but it contributes to enforcement actions and consumer-protection cases, and creates an additional dated record of your loss.
CFTC and SEC
If the scheme was presented as trading, mining, staking, or an investment fund, report to the CFTC (cftc.gov/complaint) or the SEC (sec.gov/tcr). These agencies handle investment fraud involving digital assets and commodities.
Your State Attorney General
State consumer-protection divisions accept crypto fraud complaints and can act against operators or facilitators with a presence in your state. In New York, complaints also go to the Department of Financial Services for licensed virtual currency businesses.
The Receiving Exchange
If the trail ends at a regulated exchange, that platform's compliance or law enforcement team may freeze the account — typically only on receipt of a properly documented request or legal process referencing specific addresses and hashes.
What to Expect After You File
Be prepared for a slow, quiet process. Most agencies do not provide case updates, and many crypto complaints are triaged by loss amount, jurisdiction, and whether the complaint links to an existing investigation. That is not a reason to skip filing — reports are how patterns are found, and a documented complaint with a case number is often a prerequisite for exchange cooperation, insurance claims, tax loss treatment, and civil action against identified parties.
Realistic Outcomes — and the Second Scam
Recovery of stolen cryptocurrency is possible but not typical, and it usually depends on funds reaching a regulated platform that will respond to legal process. Anyone promising guaranteed recovery for an upfront fee is running a second scam.
StonePath Investigations, LLC provides investigative tracing and analysis services. Results are not guaranteed. StonePath does not make legal findings, guarantee asset recovery, or guarantee proof of ownership. See full Terms & Conditions.