WHERE IT STARTED
FIRST SEEN: 1980s (telemarketing 'reload' scams); crypto-recovery variant c. 2018 · GOING FOR: About 40 years; crypto version about 8 years
Telemarketing 'reload' rooms in the United States were reselling lists of prior victims by the 1980s; the crypto-recovery variant appeared around 2018 and drew a dedicated FBI alert in June 2024.
Re-contacting fraud victims with an offer to get their money back has been part of telemarketing fraud since the 1980s, when boiler rooms sold 'sucker lists' of previous marks. The CFTC and FTC warned about 'recovery rooms' in the 2000s; the wave of binary options and crypto losses after 2016 created an industry of fake 'asset recovery' firms and 'blockchain forensics' lawyers, and in 2024-2025 the FBI issued alerts on fictitious law firms and even impersonation of the FBI itself. Victims are often sold on by the original scammers.
HOW IT WORKS
The victim is contacted, or finds a Google ad, Reddit post or fake review, offering a law firm, hacker or government task force that has 'traced' their lost funds. They must pay a retainer, 'gas fee', tax or bond to release the money, and are shown fake dashboards or forged court documents. Each payment triggers a new fee. Some operators are the original scammers using the victim list; others buy the list. Impersonation of the FBI, Interpol or regulators is common.
Anyone who contacts you first offering to recover scam lossesUpfront fee, 'tax' or 'unlock' payment before recovered funds are releasedClaim to have special access to exchanges, blockchains or law enforcementGuarantee of recovery, or exact knowledge of how much you lost'Government agency' asking for a fee - real agencies never charge victims
HOW USEFUL IT IS TO CRIMINALS
Costs almost nothing because the victim list already exists and the marks are desperate; a Google ad or a Reddit comment brings them in. The FBI documented $9.9 million in extra losses in a single year from one sub-variant alone, and prosecutions are almost non-existent because the operators sit inside the same overseas networks as the original scam.
THE DAMAGE IT HAS CAUSED
$9.9 million
Extra losses from fictitious 'law firm' recovery scams on crypto victims in one year (partial figure; no total published) — FBI IC3 PSA240624, June 2024
No body publishes a total; the FBI's IC3 counted $9.9 million in additional losses from crypto victims re-targeted by fake law firms between February 2023 and February 2024, and the FTC folds the rest into $3.5 billion of imposter-scam losses in 2025. Victims lose a second time, often borrowing to pay, and many stop reporting fraud altogether.
$9.9 million Extra losses reported by crypto-scam victims re-targeted by fictitious law firms, Feb 2023-Feb 2024 (FBI IC3 PSA240624, 24 Jun 2024)
$3.5 billion US imposter-scam losses in 2025, the category recovery scams fall under (FTC, June 2026)
$196,000 Taken from 17 prior fraud victims by FCR Global's Myron Plummer (US Attorney D. Neb., 2016)
WHO USES IT MOST
MOST OF ALL: 🇺🇸 United States ▸
The FBI's IC3 received the reports behind its 2024 and 2025 alerts on fictitious law firms, which documented $9.9 million in extra losses from crypto victims in one year (IC3 PSA240624).
United States (most reported victims; FBI alerts)United Kingdom (FCA warnings on recovery rooms)Israel (recovery firms spun out of binary options)Nigeria and Southeast Asia (original scammers reselling victim lists)
GOVERNMENTS LINKED TO IT
No government is documented as using this method.
NOTABLE PEOPLE WHO USED IT — RANKED BY PROFILE ORDER (NOT BY AMOUNT)
#1 Myron Plummer CONVICTEDREPORT PENDING
$196,000 from 17 victims · 2012-2015
Omaha operator of FCR Global LLC who re-contacted timeshare-fraud victims promising to recover their losses for an advance fee, recovered nothing and spent the money; sentenced to four years.
SOURCE: US Attorney D. Neb., 13 Jan 2016; Lincoln Journal Star
#2 Troy Clinton Van Sickle CONVICTEDREPORT PENDING
Not published · 2011-2014
Ran an 'asset recovery' business that targeted investors who had lost money with an investment company, falsely claiming past successes and even promising romance; sentenced to 30 months for mail fraud.
SOURCE: US Attorney W.D. Wash., 2019
#3 Austin Smith CONVICTED (BINARY OPTIONS); RECOVERY FIRM NOT CHARGEDREPORT PENDING
Not published · 2019
Former binary options sales agent sentenced to 12 months and a day for wire-fraud conspiracy who later founded Wealth Recovery International, which promised binary options victims it could recover their money.
SOURCE: Times of Israel; CB Insights company profile
SOURCES
FBI IC3 PSA240624, 'Fictitious Law Firms Targeting Cryptocurrency Scam Victims Offering to Recover Funds', 24 Jun 2024
FBI IC3 PSA250813, updated alert, 13 Aug 2025
FTC Consumer Advice, 'Refund and Recovery Scams'
CFTC, 'Don't be Re-Victimized by Recovery Frauds'
AARP, 'Fraud Victims Targeted a Second Time in Recovery Scams'
US Attorney D. Neb., 'Omaha man sentenced in telemarketing fraud scheme', Jan 2016
US Attorney W.D. Wash., 'Scammer who re-victimized unhappy investors sentenced to 30 months', 2019