How to report a scam: where to actually file it

Most people do not report. They assume nothing will happen.

Something does happen. Just not always the thing you hoped for.

A report is how a website gets taken down. It is how a watchdog gets the evidence to publish a warning with a company's name on it. And it is often the reference number your bank asks for before it will look at your claim.

So it is worth the twenty minutes. Here is where to go.

United Kingdom#

reportfraud.police.uk — or ring 0300 123 2040.

This is the national service, run by the City of London Police. It launched on 20 January 2026 and took over from the old Action Fraud site. If someone sends you to Action Fraud, they are working from an old page.

Reports go into one national picture. The police say the service exists to share what it learns across forces, and to pick out the serious cases for a specialist team.

United States#

One warning first. We checked on 30 September 2026, and the FTC's reporting site is down. It shows this message: "Due to the government shutdown, we are unable to offer this website service."

So for now, use these instead.

ic3.gov — the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center. This is the one that matters most if money moved by wire or transfer. It is the same body whose team froze $679 million of stolen transfers in 2025.

Your state attorney general. Every state has a consumer complaints route, and they do act on patterns.

When the FTC site comes back, reportfraud.ftc.gov is the place for anything that is not a wire.

Australia#

scamwatch.gov.au/report-a-scam. It is run by the National Anti-Scam Centre.

Scamwatch is clear about what it does with what you send. It uses reports to "work with organisations and remove scam websites, scam ads and contact details", and to warn people about new scams.

That is worth knowing. Your report may not get your money back. It may well get the advert pulled.

Then report it a second time, to the money watchdog#

This is the step people miss, and it is the one that produces the warnings you see on our site.

The police take the crime. The financial watchdog takes the company.

• UK — the Financial Conduct Authority, at fca.org.uk, on 0800 111 6768
• United States — the SEC, at sec.gov/tcr
• Australia — ASIC, at asic.gov.au
• Canada — your provincial securities commission
• Ireland — the Central Bank of Ireland

Every warning we quote in our articles began as somebody's report.

What to have ready before you start#

Have it all open in one place. The forms time out, and hunting for a date halfway through is how people give up.

• The company name, and every other name it used
• Every web address they used, including the dead ones
• The names your "account manager" or "adviser" gave
• Phone numbers and email addresses they contacted you from
• Every payment: date, amount, and how it was sent
• Screenshots of the account, the chat, and the advert that started it

If a website has already gone, put the address in anyway. That it existed is part of the record.

What actually happens next#

Be ready for this, because the silence afterwards makes people feel foolish twice.

You will probably not get a case officer. Most reporting bodies do not investigate one report on its own. They build a picture from many.

What your report does is add a line to that picture. Enough lines and a warning gets published, an advert gets pulled, a domain gets blocked — and the next person searching that company name finds something.

That is the honest answer. It is a slower kind of help than you want, and it is real.

Before you go#

Money first, reporting second. If you have not yet spoken to your bank, close this and do that now — our immediate checklist is in the right order.

And if someone rings and offers to get your money back for a fee, that is the second scam. It is not a service.

Not sure which of these applies to you? Send us what happened and we will point you at the right one. Free, and we never charge to get money back.

Sources

• City of London Police, Report Fraud launches, 20 January 2026 — the UK national service, reportfraud.police.uk, 0300 123 2040: https://www.cityoflondon.police.uk/news/city-of-london/news/2026/january/report-fraud-launches/
• ReportFraud.ftc.gov — service outage notice read on 30 September 2026: https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/
• Scamwatch / National Anti-Scam Centre (Australia), Report a scam, checked 30 September 2026: https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/report-a-scam
• FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center: https://www.ic3.gov — Recovery Asset Team figures from the 2025 IC3 Annual Report: https://www.ic3.gov/AnnualReport/Reports/2025_IC3Report.pdf