You lost crypto to a scam. You are desperate. Then someone messages you: "We can recover your stolen funds." This is the cruelest scam of all — it targets people who have already been victimized. Recovery scams have become a multi-million-dollar industry. This page will help you tell the difference between a real recovery service and a fraud.
Recovery scammers monitor social media, forums (Reddit, BitcoinTalk), and blockchain explorers for addresses that have been drained. When they identify a victim — someone who has just lost crypto — they reach out offering "professional recovery services." The approach is always the same pattern with slight variations:
The psychological manipulation is brutal. These scammers target people who are already in distress, who may be ashamed of having been scammed, and who are desperate for a solution. They exploit the victim's hope and urgency.
Before engaging any recovery service — including ours — verify their legitimacy through these independent checks:
Every legitimate law firm is registered with a bar association or legal regulator. In Switzerland, lawyers are registered with the cantonal bar association and the Swiss Federal Lawyers' Association. In the UK, check the Solicitors Regulation Authority. In the US, check the state bar. Ask for the registration number and verify it independently — do not rely on the firm's website alone.
Use Google Street View to check the address. Does the building match what is shown on the website? Is it a real office building or a virtual mailbox? Scammers frequently use virtual office services or fake addresses.
A real law firm will send you a formal engagement letter (also called a retainer agreement or letter of engagement) before any work begins. This document specifies the scope of work, fees, terms, and the lawyer's professional obligations. If they cannot produce this, they are not a law firm.
Real law firms accept payment through bank transfer to a law firm account in the firm's name — not crypto payments to an anonymous wallet. Some modern firms may accept crypto, but it would be through a regulated payment processor, not a direct wallet transfer to an individual.
Look for reviews on independent platforms — Google Reviews, Trustpilot, Avvo (US), or the Law Society (UK). Be wary of reviews that all sound the same or were posted within a short time window. Also search for "[firm name] scam" or "[firm name] complaint" to see if others have reported issues.
If you have already sent crypto to a "recovery service" and suspect it was a scam, you now have two losses to recover. The good news: the recovery scammer's wallet address is now part of your evidence, and blockchain forensics can trace both transactions (the original scam and the recovery scam).
Immediate steps:
We encourage you to verify us independently. Valken is a Swiss legal practice. You can verify our registration with the Swiss cantonal bar association. Our physical office is in Switzerland — you can check the address on Google Street View. We provide formal engagement letters before any work begins. We accept payment through bank transfer to a firm account. We do not cold-message people on social media. And we never guarantee recovery — we provide honest assessments of what is possible and what is not.
No. This is almost certainly a recovery scam. The fact that they contacted you first is the biggest red flag. Real law firms and recovery services do not monitor the blockchain for victims and cold-message them. If you want recovery assistance, you should seek out a firm yourself — not respond to unsolicited offers.
No. Crypto recovery depends on factors outside any single party's control: whether the funds pass through a centralized exchange, whether that exchange cooperates, whether law enforcement acts, and whether the scammer can be identified. Any service that guarantees recovery is lying. We provide honest assessments based on the specific facts of your case — and if we do not think recovery is possible, we will tell you.
Yes. We treat recovery scam cases as new fraud cases — we trace the "fee" you paid to the recovery scammer, identify where it went, and coordinate with exchanges and law enforcement. In some cases, the recovery scammer is easier to trace than the original scammer because they operate more openly and may make mistakes the original scammer did not. Contact us with the transaction details of both scams.
A retainer is a formal legal arrangement where funds are held in a law firm's client account and drawn against as work is performed. The funds remain yours until the firm bills against them, and any unspent portion is returned. An "upfront recovery fee" paid in crypto to an anonymous wallet is a payment — once sent, it is gone. Real law firms use retainers; scammers demand fees.
There are legitimate blockchain forensics firms (like Chainalysis, TRM Labs, Elliptic) that provide tracing services. However, these firms typically work with law enforcement and large institutions, not individual victims. For individual victims, a law firm is the appropriate point of contact — we engage forensics partners when needed and handle the legal coordination with exchanges and authorities. Be extremely cautious of any non-law-firm service offering direct recovery to individual victims.
Related resources: Our legitimate fraud recovery practice charges no upfront fees — we succeed together or not at all. Check known scam addresses in our scam database before sending funds. Read our crypto scam recovery guide for the full process.
Our legitimate recovery process — no upfront fees.
Check known scam addresses before sending funds.
If you have been scammed — by the original fraud or by a recovery scammer — we can help. Verify our credentials independently. Then contact us through this website, not through any social media message you received. We respond within 6 hours.
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