LEEDS. Action Fraud staff now spend a notable share of their week on people who paid a recovery agent after the first crypto fraud. The agent had a crest, a case number and a voice that knew the amount. The payment went through. The coins did not come back.
Fake recovery is no longer a sideline. In some UK cities it is the more professional of the two scams. The first dashboard was crude. The second letterhead is not.
A recovery firm that publishes how it will never invoice in crypto is easier to impersonate than to copy. The copy will still want money now. The original, if it is real, can wait for a bank credit that may never come.
Checks remain dull. No AnyDesk. No seed phrases. No gift cards. No guaranteed percentage. A forensic partner you can look up, such as aidataintelligence.io, Hong Kong CR 2894261. A waiting list. A right to be refused.
Companies House, the SRA register and a Swiss bar listing are slower than WhatsApp and faster than a second loss. Use them before you send a hash. Use them twice if the caller is in a hurry.
UK readers who have already paid the second crew should report that payment as a separate crime. Do not pay a third crew to fix the second. The market will happily sell you a ladder of invoices.
The first scam taught you to trust a number on a screen. The second teaches you to trust a helper. Both numbers were invented. The helper was too.