If You've Been Scammed: What to Do Next
It was not your fault — these scams are designed to work. But speed matters. Follow these steps as quickly as possible.
Act fast. The FBI's IC3 Recovery Asset Team reported a 66% success rate in freezing fraudulent wire transfers — but only when victims reported quickly. Every hour matters.
  1. Step 1 — Do This First
    Contact Your Bank or Financial Institution
    Call the number on the back of your card or on your bank's official website — not any number provided in the suspicious message. Ask them to freeze affected accounts, reverse transactions if possible, and flag for fraud investigation. If a wire transfer was involved, ask specifically about recall procedures.
  2. Step 2
    Change Your Passwords
    Change the passwords for any accounts that may have been compromised — email, bank, investment, shopping. If you reused any password across multiple accounts, change all of them. Enable two-factor authentication where available.
  3. Step 3
    File Reports
    Your report helps agencies track patterns and warn others. File even if you didn't lose money — frequency data matters. If investment fraud was involved, also file with the SEC.
    FTC: ReportFraud.ftc.gov FBI IC3: ic3.gov SEC (investment fraud): sec.gov/tcr Illinois AG's Office
  4. Step 4
    Monitor Your Credit
    Place a fraud alert or credit freeze with each of the three major credit bureaus. A credit freeze is free and prevents anyone from opening new accounts in your name — you can lift it anytime.
    Equifax Experian TransUnion
  5. Step 5
    Talk to Someone You Trust
    Scam victims often feel embarrassed or ashamed — and those feelings can delay recovery. You don't have to handle this alone. If you are a U of I student, SMMC is here to help you work through the financial side without judgment.
    SMMC (U of I students)
Remember: Keeping your guard up all the time is not realistic, and no one should expect that of themselves. The point is not constant vigilance — it is building a few habits that make it harder for someone to rush you into a decision. If a scam does get through despite those habits, that does not change what is true: it was not your fault. What matters now is what you do next.

Visualization by Sahil Shimpi. Data source: FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center 2024 Annual Report (April 2025). The 66% wire transfer recovery figure refers to FBI IC3 Recovery Asset Team interventions. Recovery outcomes vary by case type and cannot be guaranteed.