Where to report a scam in the US: FTC, IC3, 7726 and your bank, in the right order

First: stop the money, then report

Reporting a scam matters, but it does not get your money back on its own. The agencies below collect reports to find patterns and build cases; they do not chase individual payments. So if money has already left, the order is:

1. Call whoever moved the money — your card issuer, bank, credit union or payment app — and say it was a scam. This is the only step that can stop or reverse a payment, and it gets harder by the hour.
2. Lock down anything you gave away. Change a password you typed into a fake page, and ask your bank to lock online banking if you shared a code.
3. Then report it, using the list below.

Which place for which problem

• You were scammed or cheated, or a business ripped you off: ReportFraud.ftc.gov, run by the Federal Trade Commission.
• Someone used your personal information to open an account, take a loan or file a tax return in your name: IdentityTheft.gov, also the FTC, which helps you report it and recover.
• An online crime, especially a large loss, hacking or extortion: ic3.gov, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center.
• A scam text message: forward it to 7726 (it spells SPAM), then report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
• A text pretending to be USPS: forward it to 7726 and email it to [email protected].
• A phishing email: forward it to [email protected], and to the company being impersonated. PayPal, for example, asks for [email protected].
• You mailed cash to a scammer: call the U.S. Postal Inspection Service at 1-877-876-2455 immediately. For a fee, they can intercept the package.

Sources for every line: FTC on reporting fraud and identity theft, FTC on spam texts, FTC on phishing, USPIS, PayPal, and the FTC's list of what to do if you were scammed.

What happens after you report

It is worth knowing this in advance, so silence does not feel like being ignored.

• FTC reports go into Consumer Sentinel, "a secure national database available to local, state, and federal law enforcement" (FTC). Your report is how they spot a new scam and build cases against the people behind it.
• IC3 says plainly that it "cannot respond directly to every submission" (FBI IC3). Keep your report number and your evidence; if law enforcement follows up, that is what they will ask for.
• Forwarding a text to 7726 helps your carrier "spot and block similar messages" (FTC). It will not bring back a payment, but it is the fastest way to stop the next person getting the same text.

Keep this evidence

Before you delete anything, take screenshots of:

• the message, email or listing, with the sender's number, address or profile
• the web address of any page you were sent to
• the payment: date, amount, method, and the account or username you paid
• any receipts, confirmation numbers or case numbers from your bank

Warn the next person

If the scam came through a website, paste its address into our link checker and file a report on it from our report page. The next person who checks that address sees that someone reported it. We never show who filed a report, and we show counts and reasons, not accusations.

Watch for the second scam

Soon after you report, you may hear from someone who says they can get your money back: a "recovery" firm, a lawyer, even someone claiming to be from a government agency, with a fee to pay first. That is a scam aimed at people who have already lost money. The FTC calls these "the worst of the worst", and paying them means losing more (FTC). No real agency charges you to get your money back.