I transferred money to a scammer: what should I do now?

Immediate summary

• Speed matters after a transfer. Only your bank can check its status, attempt a recall or contact the beneficiary bank. No outcome can be guaranteed.

What this action may have triggered

• The money may quickly be moved through other accounts.
• Fraudsters may return with a fake recovery offer requiring more fees.

Do this now

• Call your bank immediately through its official number and ask for the fraud team.
• Provide the amount, time, beneficiary IBAN and reference, and ask whether blocking or recall is still possible.
• If fraud is confirmed, prepare a report following the bank's and local police's instructions.

Emergency timeline

• Now, 0-5 min: stop the interaction, close the suspicious page and do not use any link, number or QR code from the message.
• Within 30 min: contact the bank, Card Stop or the relevant service through an official channel if money, a card, a code or an account is involved.
• Today: write a short timeline with what you saw, what you did, which amounts or accounts are involved and which measures were already taken.
• This week: monitor accounts, sessions, passwords and follow-up messages; stay alert for fake helpdesk or bank calls.

Do not do this

• Do not pay more fees to unlock or recover the money.
• Do not spend time warning the fraudster before speaking to the bank.
• Do not delete or alter original evidence.

What should be checked

• Ask for the transfer's exact status and a case reference.
• Check for other beneficiaries, scheduled transfers and newly created access.

Useful evidence to keep

• Keep the transfer order, IBAN, displayed name, messages, invoices and contact details.
• Write a factual timeline without assuming the beneficiary's real identity.

Prepare the next steps without false promises

• The bank determines what technical and contractual options remain.
• Keep every reference for a possible police report or formal notification.

What to ask the bank

• Ask whether the transfer can still be stopped, whether a recall is possible, whether the beneficiary bank can be contacted and whether other recent beneficiaries or scheduled payments were added.
• Ask for a case reference and write down exactly what the bank confirms. A general answer is less useful than the concrete status of the transfer, execution time and next step.

Evidence without weakening the case

• Keep the message, account number, amount, reference, time, name used by the scammer and any phone calls or chats around the payment.
• Do not modify original messages and do not send new codes as proof. Keep copies for your file, but preserve original information for the bank or police.

Avoid recovery scams

• After a transfer, a second scammer may promise to recover the money for a fee, crypto, a new account number or access to your device. Do not pay again.
• A real procedure goes through the bank, police or competent service. Anyone pushing you to pay quickly again is using the same pressure as the first scam.

Limits of this guidance

• This page helps after a transfer to a suspicious beneficiary. It cannot initiate a recall and does not guarantee that money can still be stopped.
• Ask your bank through an official channel about payment status, recall options, the case reference and documents needed for a dispute or report.

What to do now

• If you have not acted, do not click further and open the named service's official channel yourself.
• If you clicked, close the page, enter nothing else and note what information was shown or requested.
• If you shared a code, card, password or payment, contact your bank or the relevant official service immediately.
• Keep the message, time, link used and any useful screenshots. Share them only with an official reporting channel or a trusted helper.

Limits of this page

• This page does not prove that a message is safe and does not replace your bank, the police, Safeonweb, a platform or a public service.
• A scam may be new, very well written or described with too little context. Use the result as decision support, not as absolute certainty.
• Before taking a final action, checking through the official channel matters more than the appearance of the received message.

Check through an official channel

• Type the service address yourself or open the official app. Do not use a phone number, link or QR code from the suspicious message to verify the situation.
• When money, card details, a code or account access are involved, the safety action comes first. The analysis can then help organise the evidence.

How to read the result

• A low number of signals does not mean that everything is safe. It only means that this page or analysis did not find decisive evidence with the information available.
• Focus on the requested action: paying, sharing a code, installing an app, approving a bank action or leaving an official platform. That action matters more than a logo, sender name or polished wording.
• If the situation feels urgent, step away from the received message first. Then check calmly through a channel you already trusted before the message arrived.

Belgian reading of this situation

• For this i transferred money to a scammer situation, focus on the relevant Belgian next step: open the official channel yourself, contact the bank, use Safeonweb or preserve evidence.
• The right decision for this i transferred money to a scammer situation depends on what has already happened. Reading a message is not the same as clicking, paying, sharing a code or granting remote access.

Frequently asked questions

Useful official sources

• SPF Économie - Victime d'une arnaque ? Que faire ? - link checked on 2026-09-17
• Febelfin - Phishing - link checked on 2026-09-17
• Febelfin - Fraude au faux support technique bancaire - link checked on 2026-09-17
• Bancontact Company - Ensemble contre la fraude aux paiements - link checked on 2026-09-17
• Card Stop - Blocage officiel des cartes de paiement - link checked on 2026-09-17