How to Report a Scam (US, UK, France and the EU)

Before you report: protect your money and keep the evidence

Reporting helps investigators connect cases, but it rarely brings money back on its own. If you paid or shared bank details, call your bank or card issuer first, using the number on your card: ask them to stop, recall or dispute the payment. Then change any password you shared.

Timing matters most for card payments. The FTC notes that credit card dispute rights cover goods you paid for and never received, and that you should write to the issuer within 60 days of the first bill showing the charge. Transfers, crypto and gift cards have no such right, which is why scammers ask for them; call your bank anyway: the sooner it knows, the better the chance of stopping or tracing the payment.

Keep the evidence before it disappears. Every reporting form asks for it:

• Website addresses (copy the full URL), screenshots of the pages, the order or deposit confirmation.
• Phone numbers, the date and time of calls, and any callback number, as the FTC asks.
• Emails with their full sender address, text messages, chat logs and usernames.
• Payment details: amount, date, method, the IBAN, account name or crypto wallet address you paid.

Where to report a scam: quick table

How to report a scam in the US

The FTC: ReportFraud.ftc.gov. The general channel for scams, bad business practices and fraud. Reports go into Consumer Sentinel, a database available to federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. Reporting there is how a single scam becomes part of a pattern investigators can act on; it does not, by itself, get your money back.

The FBI: ic3.gov. To report a scam to the FBI, use the Internet Crime Complaint Center, “the central hub for reporting cyber-enabled crime”. The IC3 says it cannot respond to every submission, but complaints may be referred to law enforcement partners. It received 1,008,597 complaints in 2025 (2025 report).

Scam texts and emails. The FTC’s phishing guidance says to forward scam texts to SPAM (7726) and phishing emails to the Anti-Phishing Working Group at reportphishing@apwg.org, then report to ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

Report a scam phone number. If you lost money or have information about the caller, report at ReportFraud.ftc.gov with your number, the caller ID number, any callback number and the date and time. If you only want to report an unwanted call, the FTC points to DoNotCall.gov.

How to report a scam in the UK (Action Fraud is now Report Fraud)

Report Fraud: reportfraud.police.uk, 0300 123 2040. On 4 December 2025, Report Fraud replaced Action Fraud as the national reporting service for fraud and cyber crime in England, Wales and Northern Ireland; the old Action Fraud address redirects to it. In Scotland, report to Police Scotland on 101. The NCSC gives the same split.

• Scam emails: forward them to report@phishing.gov.uk, run by the National Cyber Security Centre.
• Scam texts: forward them to 7726; your phone provider can block the sender (Citizens Advice).
• Scam websites: use the NCSC’s report a suspicious website form; reports can be shared with law enforcement partners.
• Scam adverts: Citizens Advice points to the Advertising Standards Authority’s scam advert form, and to the report tools of the platform showing the ad.
• Unauthorised investment firms: report them to the FCA and check its Warning List.

How to report a scam in France (signaler une arnaque)

• 17Cyber: the official online assistance run by the Police nationale, the Gendarmerie nationale and Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr. A short diagnostic identifies the attack, gives advice and links to the right reporting or complaint service.
• Pharos: the government portal for illegal online content, which takes reports of online scams under its “Escroquerie” category. According to Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr, it does not take phishing emails as such.
• Perceval: for online card fraud, if you still have your card, did not make the purchases and have already blocked the card with your bank. The receipt supports your refund request.
• 33700: forward spam texts to 33700 or report spam texts and calls on the website; reports go to the phone operators.
• Signal Spam and Phishing Initiative: for phishing emails and phishing sites, as Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr recommends.
• SignalConso: the DGCCRF’s service to report problems with a business, including online purchases and fake websites.
• Info Escroqueries: 0 805 805 817, free, Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 18:30, to get advice and be directed to the right service.

A report (signalement) is not a complaint (plainte). If you lost money, file a complaint with the police or gendarmerie; 17Cyber links to the online complaint where it applies. For investment scams, check the AMF blacklists and contact AMF Epargne Info Service.

How to report a scam elsewhere in the EU

There is no single EU-wide police form: report to the police of the country where you live, even when the scammer is abroad. Two European resources help:

• The European Consumer Centres Network (ECC-Net), co-funded by the European Commission, helps residents of the EU, Iceland and Norway with disputes involving a seller in another of these countries. Contact the centre in your country of residence.
• For investment scams, IOSCO’s I-SCAN shows warnings from regulators worldwide; report the firm to your national financial regulator.

How to report a scam site (anywhere)

Reporting the website itself can get it blocked or taken down faster than any police case.

1. 01Google Safe Browsing: use Report a page to Google Safe Browsing. Pages Google lists get warnings in browsers that use Safe Browsing.
2. 02The registrar: look up the domain on ICANN Lookup and send your evidence to the registrar’s abuse contact. Since 5 April 2024, ICANN’s contracts include obligations for registrars to act on DNS abuse such as phishing (ICANN advisory).
3. 03The hosting provider: most hosts have an abuse form or address.
4. 04The platform where you found it: report the ad, the post or the seller on the social network or marketplace.
5. 05Your national channel: the NCSC form in the UK, Pharos or Phishing Initiative in France, ReportFraud.ftc.gov in the US.

Not sure the site is a scam? Check it first with the 10 checks in how to check if a website is legit, or run the website scam checker: the report lists every check with its source, which is useful evidence to attach.

How to write a scam report that helps

Investigators connect cases through identifiers, so the most useful report is precise rather than long. Fill in every field you can, and paste identifiers exactly as they appeared instead of describing them.

Report even if you did not lose money. A blocked attempt with a phone number, a domain or a wallet address is exactly the kind of data that helps warn the next person. Keep the reference number you receive: your bank or insurer may ask for it.

What happens after you report?

Usually, nothing you can see. Agencies receive millions of reports and act on patterns: the FTC took 3 million fraud reports in 2025 (FTC). Your report adds a phone number, a domain or a wallet address to a pattern that can lead to a case, a takedown or a warning to others.

Expect follow-up contact to be the next scam: fake police officers, fake lawyers and “recovery services” target people who have just reported a loss. Real agencies do not ask for fees to pursue your case.

Frequently asked questions