Can This Company Get Your Money Back? If They Called You First, It's the Second Scam

If they contacted you first, it's the sequel scam, not the solution. The FTC's verdict is absolute: an upfront fee — by whatever name — means a scammer, and no one can guarantee recovery. The machinery is a list: scammers trade “sucker lists” of people who already lost money, then come back dressed as help — a government agency, a consumer group, a law firm, even the company that scammed you. Government agencies never charge to get you a refund and never ask for your financial account numbers.

Educational verdict from documented scam patterns — not a live report. For a 0–100 risk score on the exact link in your hand, run the checker.

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Why this question never goes away

These are the scams that target people who already lost money — the FTC calls them the worst of the worst. The machinery is a list: scammers buy and sell “sucker lists” of people who paid before, with names, the scam that worked, and how much was lost. Then the second scam arrives, dressed as help: a caller, email, text, letter, or social message claiming they can recover your money or the prize you never got — posing as a government agency, a consumer group, a law firm, or even the company that scammed you, now “issuing refunds.” The tell is the ask: a “retainer,” “processing fee,” “administrative charge,” or “tax,” or your Social Security or bank account number to “deposit the refund.” The FTC's rules are absolute: government agencies never ask for money to get you a refund, never ask for financial account numbers, and never guarantee recovery. And a “refund check” written for more than you lost is the fake-check script wearing a recovery costume.

Five red flags — any one is enough

Unsolicited contact promising to recover money you lost — they found you from a “sucker list.”

Any upfront fee, whatever it's named — retainer, processing, administrative, tax, shipping.

A claim to be from the FTC, a government agency, or a nonprofit that needs payment or personal information — real agencies never ask.

A guarantee you'll get your money back — no one can promise that.

A “refund check” for more than you lost, with instructions to return the balance — always a scam.

Your next three moves

Verify through a channel you open yourself — if you want help with money you lost, find it yourself: your state attorney general's office, or the agency the caller claimed to be, at contact details you look up on your own. Never the phone number, email, or link that contacted you first.

Refuse the ask: no upfront fee — not a “retainer,” “processing fee,” “administrative charge,” or “tax” — and never your Social Security or bank account number to “deposit the refund.” A guarantee of recovery is a scammer's tell, and a “refund check” for more than you lost is the fake-check script.

Report the pitch to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and your state attorney general — and paste any link the “recovery” service sent into the $2 instant check for a 0–100 scam risk score.

Can a company really recover money I lost to a scam?

No one can promise that — the FTC's rule is absolute: a guarantee you'll get your money back is a scammer's tell. Government agencies never charge to get you a refund and never ask for your financial account numbers.

How did the recovery service know I was scammed?

From a list. Scammers buy and sell “sucker lists” of people who paid before — names, the scam that worked, and how much was lost — then come back dressed as help. Unsolicited contact promising recovery means they found you from the list.

The caller says they're from the FTC or a government agency — could that be real?

No — a claim to be from the FTC, a government agency, or a nonprofit that needs payment or personal information is a scam. Real agencies never ask for money to get you a refund, and never ask for account numbers to “deposit” one.

I got a refund check for more than I lost — deposit it and return the difference?

Never — a “refund check” written for more than you lost, with instructions to return the balance, is always a scam: the fake-check script wearing a recovery costume. The check will surface as fake weeks later, and you'll owe the bank.

Sixty seconds of checking beats a four-figure mistake.

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