It’s an easy lure. Attackers use “social media and other messaging platforms,” to pose as lawyers, offering to help anyone who has lost crypto to scams recover their funds. These fake lawyers claim to have case files from the FBI and other agencies. Victims are then defrauded again, with more money lost to these malicious recovery schemes.
The bureau first warned about this scam in 2023 and then again in 2024. Now there’s a third public advisory, which “provides additional red flag indicators and due diligence measures to help victims who have been in contact with fictitious law firms.”
Unsurprisingly, these frauds target vulnerable citizens, “particularly the elderly,” and “exploit victims’ emotional state and financial need to recover funds.” Some of the attacks impersonate legitimate law firms adding to their credibility.
Specific red flags to watch for include stating affiliation or official partnership with government or regulatory agencies. “There are no law firms which are officially authorized partners of U.S. Government agencies,” the FBI confirms.
These frauds may also list “fictitious government or regulatory entities,” albeit much of the documentation and references they use are real.
More pointedly, scammers need to be paid and will “request payment in cryptocurrency or prepaid gift cards” or ask victims to open new overseas bank accounts for the recovered funds. They will “say that payment of bank fees is required to verify identity and ownership to withdraw funds” or “send payment to a third-party entity (i.e., xyz trading company) for the supposed purposes of maintaining secrecy and safety.”
Set out here in black and white, it’s easy to see these scams for what they are. But for more vulnerable investors or for those emotionally affected by the original thefts, it’s all too easy to jump at the chance of any form of recovery.
The FBI suggests a “Zero Trust” model, which means trust no one and assume everything is a scam until proven otherwise. “Every request should be verified.” There is other advice to confirm law licenses and to keep records of contacts. But you should never respond to unsolicited posts such as this, which means never getting that far.
“Be wary of advertisements for cryptocurrency recovery services,” the FBI says. And “if an unknown individual contacts you and claims to be able to recover stolen crypto, do not release any financial or personal identifying information and do not send money.”
With billions of dollars lost to online crypto hacks and scams, there are plenty of victims to target. The fact there have now been three FBI warnings on this highlights the risks.
