GlossaryBeginner
Recovery Scam
A scam that targets someone who already lost crypto, offering to recover it for an upfront fee that results in a second loss.
A recovery scam specifically targets someone who has already lost crypto to theft or fraud, offering to recover the stolen or lost funds in exchange for an upfront fee, personal information, or remote access to a device.
There is no legitimate technical mechanism for a third party to reverse a genuine on-chain transfer to an attacker-controlled address, which is what makes this pattern reliably a second scam rather than a real solution — see Kaavon's "What to Do If You've Been Scammed in Crypto" guide.
Examples
- An unsolicited message offering fund-recovery services shortly after a scam becomes visible on-chain is a common recovery-scam pattern.
- Recovery scams specifically exploit a victim's vulnerable, high-stress state right after an initial loss.