What is a recovery scam and how do I recognise it?
By R.T. (Tyler) Dijst, blockchain investigator at Paucitas
Paucitas is an independent expert firm in the Netherlands that investigates investment fraud and crypto fraud and establishes legitimate crypto assets.
How to recognise a recovery scam
The contact is unsolicited, often shortly after you filed a report or posted on a forum. A specific amount is named as recoverable, sometimes with a percentage and a deadline attached. Payment is requested up front, in crypto, or as a fee for tax, legal costs or a deposit.
Further signals: a name resembling that of a known firm, an address that does not match the registers, pressure to decide quickly, and a conversation that runs only through a chat app. Once you pay, a second request usually follows.
What Paucitas does and does not do
Paucitas is not a recovery provider. We do not retrieve funds and we do not undertake to. What we do is investigate what is still there to investigate: where your payments went, whether the route ends at an exchange or at a mixer, and whether there are leads your lawyer can use.
If money has since gone to a recovery provider as well, we include those payments in the same investigation. They are ordinary transactions and can be followed in the same way.
What you supply
The messages from the party that approached you, the name and address they gave, the payment addresses and transaction hashes of what you paid them, plus the material from the original case.
How to get started
Pay nothing further and keep everything. Get in touch with a short description; in a first conversation you will hear whether an investigation can still achieve anything in your situation and what it costs.
European supervisors publish background on crypto assets and the rules that apply to them: see ESMA and EBA.
We do not express a view on whether a particular party is acting in good faith. We investigate the transactions and record what follows from them.
Frequently asked questions
What is a recovery scam?
Fraud aimed at earlier fraud victims: a party promises to recover your crypto against payment up front and then disappears.
How do I recognise a recovery scam?
Unsolicited contact, a specific promise of recovery, payment up front in crypto and pressure to decide quickly are the clearest signals.
Can Paucitas get my crypto back?
No. Paucitas investigates and records; we do not undertake to retrieve funds.
Your own situation
If you are reading this, you probably have a question about your own situation. That is exactly what Paucitas does.
The first step is contact by phone. We prefer to schedule that call through WhatsApp, so you do not have to wait. In the call we look together at what can factually be established in your case and what Paucitas can examine for you.