Crypto-Fraud – Recovering your coins

In recent years cryptocurrency trading has become fashionable for retail investors, owed to the relative ease of accessing the market and the stories of ordinary people making a fortune from small sums of money. This has been further fuelled amidst the chaos of the Covid-19 pandemic and the popularity of such stocks continues to rise.

In February 2021, the value of Bitcoin reached a record high of almost $50,000 per coin. Unlike regular stocks, there aren’t assets or balance sheets behind the crypto stocks and value is determined solely by the demand of the market, which makes the stocks inherently risky and the market volatile. This is part of the reason why trading in crypto-currency is now regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) – commercial trading without authorisation is a criminal offence punishable by imprisonment.

Fraudsters have traditionally targeted the market because retail traders can be more easily coerced by fraudulent activities. Security Magazine reported that in 2020 alone, fraudsters stole roughly $1.9 billion worth of crypto assets!

A prime example of such fraudulent activities came to light earlier this month. The FCA issued a warning that they are aware of a fraudulent outfit operating under the pretence of a FCA approved company, by copying a legitimate reference number of a FCA authorised firm. The fraudsters operated under the name ‘The Block Chain Recovery Association’ and are issuing ‘phishing’ emails to try to obtain traders’ confidential information which can result in access to their crypto wallets.

While it may all seem doom and gloom, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Recently, the FCA has recovered £676,000 in losses for victims of an unauthorised deposit–taking scheme in crypto assets and forex trading. However, the authorities will not always pursue all lines of enquiry.

In the event you are the victim of crypto fraud, we recommend you take the following steps immediately: 

1. Inform the trading platform of the fraud
2. Inform your crypto-wallet provider of the fraud
3. Inform the police; and
4. Inform your Bank.

If you are a victim of an APP scam or fraud and meet the below criteria, our Civil Litigation team are here to help recover funds for you.

• Have you suffered a loss of £5,000 or more?
• Was the APP scam made by transferring funds from a UK bank account?

For further information on the different types of fraud and scams please visit our Fraud and Scams page.

Funding options

At MSB we can offer various methods of funding including Conditional Fee Agreements (CFA). This means we can work on a no win no fee basis and we will not require a payment on account before beginning work*. We will only take payment of an agreed percentage from the total amount we are able to recover for you. You will not need to pay us if your claim is unsuccessful.

*All clients will be required to pay a mandatory fee of £9.60 so that we may undertake the relevant identification checks required by law.

If you’ve lost funds as a result of an APP scam OR Fraud, reach out to  our team by filling out the questionnaire below

Title *

• Miss
• Mr
• Mrs
• Ms
• Mx
• Other

Chosen Title *

Layout

First Name *

Last Name *

Phone Number *

Email *

How much money did you send from your bank account to the scammer? *

• £0 - £5,000
• £5,000 - £9,999
• £10,000 - £24,999
• £25,000 - £49,999
• £50,000 - £99,999
• £100,000+

If you're not sure exactly, an estimate is fine.

Unfortunately, we cannot accept any fraud and scam claims where the total amount lost is under £5,000.

Was the first transaction in the past five years? *

• Yes
• No

Did you only become aware it was a scam in the past two years? *

• Yes
• No

Which bank did you use to transfer your money? *Please SelectAtom BankBank of Scotland PLCBarclaysCahootCater AllenLimitedChaseClydesdale BankCo-op BankFirst DirectHalifaxHSBCIntelligent FinanceLloyds BankM&S BankMetro BankMonzoNationwide Building SocietyNatwestPost Office MoneyRevolutSantanderStarlingTesco BankTSBUlster BankVirgin MoneyYorkshire BankOther

If you used multiple banks, please state the bank you lost the largest amount from.

Please state the name of your UK bank *

Has your bank refunded any of the money you lost? *

• Yes
• No

How much have you recovered roughly? *

Please give a brief description of how the scam occurred *

Sorry, we're unable to help with your claim

Unfortunately, we are unable to accept claims for incidents that occurred over 5 years ago and where you became aware of the scam more than 2 years ago. We understand the impact such situations can have on individuals and their families.

The Financial Ombudsman has set a maximum timeframe of 6 years from the incident date or 3 years from the date you reasonably became aware of the scam to consider complaints against your bank. As a firm, we require 12 months to thoroughly investigate and process your claim, which is why we cannot extend our services beyond these timescales.

We never disclose your personal data to any third parties without your direct consent. By submitting your information, you confirm that you are happy for our team to contact you.

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