How to Get Your Money Back After a Scam
Card chargebacks, wire recalls, Zelle/Venmo disputes, gift cards and crypto — ranked by your real odds of recovery.
Read the guide →Key takeaways
- Your best first call: the DOJ National Elder Fraud Hotline, 833-372-8311. Free case managers walk you through where to report and what to do next.
- Secure the money before you dissect what happened: call the bank's fraud line, freeze cards, and change passwords together.
- Lead with teamwork, not blame. Shame is why older victims hide fraud, and a lecture pushes them closer to the scammer.
- Report every incident to ic3.gov and ReportFraud.ftc.gov, even small losses.
- Anyone who contacts your family promising to recover the lost money for an upfront fee is running a second scam.
Finding out that a parent or grandparent has been scammed is a gut punch — and what you do over the next few days matters most. Here's the first call to make, how to lock down accounts without a family fight, where to report, and how to prevent a repeat.
Start with one phone call: the National Elder Fraud Hotline
The Department of Justice runs the National Elder Fraud Hotline at 833-372-8311 (833-FRAUD-11), staffed weekdays 10 a.m.–6 p.m. Eastern in English, Spanish, and other languages. A case manager listens, identifies every agency that should get a report, and often helps file them with you on the line. It's free and official — a DOJ Office for Victims of Crime service.
While you wait for business hours, start containment:
- Stop the bleeding. If money is still moving — wires, gift cards, crypto — call the bank or card issuer's fraud line and ask them to block further transactions and recall recent ones. Our guide to getting money back after a scam covers what's realistic for each payment method.
- Cut the scammer's line in. Block the phone numbers, emails, and messaging accounts the scammer uses. If remote-access software was installed, disconnect that computer from the internet until it's cleaned.
- Change passwords together. Start with email (it's the master key), then banking. Turn on two-factor authentication as you go.
- Call the hotline: 833-372-8311. Let the case manager map the reporting plan for your scam.
- File the official reports. At minimum: ic3.gov (FBI) and ReportFraud.ftc.gov (FTC). If personal information was exposed, follow our identity theft checklist too.
The scams that target seniors most
Knowing the script helps your parent feel less alone — these are industrial-scale operations, not personal failures.
| Scheme | How it works | The tell |
|---|---|---|
| Grandparent / emergency scam | A caller poses as a grandchild in trouble — jailed, in an accident, stranded abroad — begging for money. AI voice cloning from short social media clips can make the voice genuinely sound like family. | Urgency plus secrecy ("don't tell Mom"), and payment by gift cards, wire, cash courier, or crypto. |
| Tech-support pop-up | A fake virus warning shows a number to call; the "technician" takes remote control and "finds" fraud that requires moving money to a "safe account." | Real companies don't put support numbers in pop-ups; no bank asks you to move money to protect it. |
| Medicare fraud | Calls harvesting Medicare numbers for phantom billing, or pushing unneeded genetic tests and equipment. | Anyone who calls asking for a Medicare number. Medicare does not cold-call. |
| Sweepstakes / lottery | "You've won — just pay the taxes and fees first." The payments continue; the prize never arrives. | Real prizes never require payment to collect. |
| Romance scam | A months-long online relationship turns into requests for money, often crypto "investments." See our guide to romance scams. | A partner who can never meet in person and always has a financial emergency. |
| Home repair / contractor | A door-knocker offers a driveway or roof "deal," takes a deposit, then vanishes or invents extra charges. | Pressure to pay cash today for work starting "tomorrow." |
Americans aged 60 and over reported nearly $4.9 billion in fraud losses in 2024, according to the FBI's IC3 Elder Fraud Report — and since many victims never report, the true figure is higher.
How to step in without starting a fight
The hardest part is often the conversation. Older adults fear losing independence more than money, and confrontation can make them defend the scammer or hide the next incident. What works:
- Lead with teamwork, not blame. "These criminals are professionals — let's lock things down together" lands very differently than "How could you fall for this?"
- Do the security work side by side. Sit next to them while changing passwords and calling the bank, rather than taking over. They stay in control; you're the assistant.
- Get the bank's fraud team involved. Banks have elder financial exploitation procedures: alerts on unusual withdrawals, holds on suspicious wires. Ask for the fraud or elder-abuse specialist, not the general help line.
- Add a trusted contact. Banks and brokerages let customers designate a trusted contact the firm may call if it spots signs of exploitation. It grants no control over the money — which is exactly why most parents agree. The SEC explains it at Investor.gov.
- Understand power of attorney basics. A durable financial power of attorney lets a chosen person step in if needed — worth discussing before a crisis, ideally with an elder-law attorney. The CFPB publishes free plain-English guides for financial caregivers at consumerfinance.gov. (General information, not legal advice.)
Where to report elder fraud
- National Elder Fraud Hotline — 833-372-8311 (justice.gov): your coordinator for everything below.
- FBI IC3 — ic3.gov for any internet-connected fraud.
- FTC — ReportFraud.ftc.gov feeds the database law enforcement uses to spot patterns.
- Adult Protective Services (APS) — find your local agency through the federal Eldercare Locator or call 800-677-1116.
- Your state attorney general — find yours via USA.gov.
- Medicare fraud — call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) or report at Medicare.gov.
Not sure which channel fits? Our where-to-report guide matches every scam type to the right agency.
Worth knowing: if you or your parent has inside knowledge of ongoing fraud — say, an employee seeing a clinic systematically overbill Medicare — U.S. government whistleblower programs pay rewards of 10–30% of what the government recovers. Medicare fraud can qualify under the False Claims Act's qui tam provisions; see our directory of 69 reward programs.
If the exploiter is a family member or caregiver
A large share of elder financial abuse comes from people the victim knows: an adult child "borrowing" from accounts, a caregiver added to a bank card, a new friend steering assets. This is still fraud. Report it to Adult Protective Services (via the Eldercare Locator, 800-677-1116) and the local police; APS can investigate and arrange protective services while keeping your parent's dignity intact. If there's immediate danger, call 911. Tell the bank explicitly that you suspect elder financial exploitation — that phrase triggers specific internal procedures.
Warning: the "recovery" follow-up scam. Scammers sell victim lists. Weeks or months later, your parent may hear from a "law firm" or "crypto recovery specialist" claiming it can get the money back — for an upfront fee. This is always a scam. The FBI, FTC, and DOJ never call victims to demand payment, and legitimate recovery never starts with a fee. Rehearse this line: "Send me something in writing; I don't pay anyone who calls me." Then report the attempt at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
Prevention that actually sticks
Lectures fade; systems last. Set these up together in one afternoon:
- Block the calls before they ring. Register at DoNotCall.gov, then enable the carrier's free scam-blocking service — the FCC lists current options at fcc.gov/call-blocking.
- Freeze their credit. A freeze at all three bureaus is free and blocks new accounts from being opened in their name — step-by-step instructions in our credit freeze guide.
- Consider ongoing monitoring. After a scam, an identity-protection service can catch reuse of stolen information; see our comparison of identity theft protection options.
- Rehearse two scripts. For calls: "I don't make money decisions on the phone. Give me your name and number and I'll call the organization directly." For family emergencies: hang up and call the grandchild back on a known number, and agree on a family code word a cloned voice won't know.
- Hold a weekly money check-in. Ten minutes reviewing account activity together normalizes talking about money, so the next suspicious call becomes a story to share rather than a secret to keep.
Elder fraud thrives on isolation. The most protective thing you can do is free: make it easy for your parent to tell you when something feels off — no judgment, no "I told you so." Start with the hotline, 833-372-8311, and take it one step at a time. More help is in our fraud victim resource center.
Frequently asked questions
Is the National Elder Fraud Hotline free, and who runs it?
Yes. The hotline (833-372-8311) is a free service of the U.S. Department of Justice's Office for Victims of Crime, staffed weekdays 10 a.m.–6 p.m. Eastern with services in English, Spanish, and other languages. Case managers help identify which agencies should receive reports and assist with filing them. Details are on the official justice.gov page.
Can my parent get the money back?
Sometimes — and speed is the biggest factor. Credit card charges and some bank transfers can be disputed or recalled if you act within days; wire transfers, gift cards, and crypto are much harder but not always hopeless. Call the bank's fraud line immediately, then work through our guide to getting money back after a scam. Be wary of anyone who guarantees recovery — no legitimate service can.
What if my parent doesn't believe it's a scam?
This is common, especially with romance and investment scams where the scammer has spent months building trust. Avoid ultimatums — they isolate your parent further. Share official warnings (from the FTC or FBI) rather than your own arguments, involve their bank's fraud team as a neutral third voice, and contact Adult Protective Services through the Eldercare Locator (800-677-1116) if money keeps flowing. Our romance scam guide covers this conversation in depth.
Do I need power of attorney to help my parent?
No. You can sit with them while they call their bank, file reports at ic3.gov and ReportFraud.ftc.gov, freeze their credit, and add you as a trusted contact — all without any legal authority. A durable power of attorney matters if they lose the capacity to manage finances; that's a conversation to have with an elder-law attorney before it's urgent.
How does the grandparent scam work with AI voice cloning?
Scammers grab a few seconds of a grandchild's voice from social media videos, clone it with cheap AI tools, and call claiming an emergency — an arrest, a crash, a stranded trip — that needs money now and must be kept secret. The defense is procedural, not auditory: hang up and call the grandchild back on a known number, and use a pre-agreed family code word that an impostor can't know.
Is there a reward for reporting Medicare fraud?
Reporting your own victimization goes through 1-800-MEDICARE. But if someone has insider knowledge of systematic Medicare fraud — phantom billing, kickbacks, upcoding — the False Claims Act lets whistleblowers receive a share, typically 15–30%, of what the government recovers, and awards across federal programs range from 10–30%. See our guides to FCA qui tam cases and the full whistleblower rewards directory.
Last updated: July 4, 2026. AntiFraud.com links only to official and nonprofit help channels — never paid "recovery services" — read our methodology.