What to do next
A simple timeline for the hours and days after a scam. Do what you can, in order. You don't have to do everything at once.
In the first hour
- Stop contact with the scammer. Don't send anything more.
- If money, cards or bank details are involved, call your bank or payment provider using an official number.
- If you shared a password, change it (email first) from a device you trust.
- If someone had remote access to your device, disconnect it from the internet.
In the first day
- Save evidence: screenshots, usernames, numbers, web addresses, receipts and transaction IDs.
- Turn on two-step verification for email, banking and social accounts.
- Report to the platform and to your official fraud reporting service.
- Tell someone you trust.
In the first week
- Check statements for payments you don't recognise.
- Review signed-in devices and recovery details on key accounts.
- If ID details were shared, look into identity-theft reporting and credit protections where you live.
- Be alert for follow-up 'recovery' scams promising to get your money back.
Over the following weeks
- Keep your evidence and any report reference numbers in one place.
- Follow up with your bank or the platform if you haven't heard back.
- Share what happened, if you feel able. It helps protect others.
Need steps for a specific situation? Tell us what happened.