How recovery scammers target recent scam victims on Trustpilot

Scam victims using Trustpilot to recount their story and warn others are being targeted by recovery scammers, Which? warns.

A recovery scam is when fraud victims are targeted by 'professionals' claiming to be able to recover lost money, only to be scammed again. It's a devastating crime. 

Between November 2024 and November 2025, Action Fraud received 5,553 reports related to recovery scams, resulting in £185.4m in losses. 

Typically, these scams involve the same fraudster who scammed you the first time contacting you via email under a different name, or on social media posts and pages created for scam victims to share their experiences. But now Which? has found scammers operating on the reviews site Trustpilot.

Fake scam recovery companies

Which? found six dodgy scam reimbursement services, all purporting to offer legal services or claims management services. Many were listed as being located in the US, while having websites registered in Germany.

We found that none of the firms are registered with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), meaning they aren’t authorised to provide claims management services or financial services in the UK.

At the time of writing, all of these firms had suspicious reviews on Trustpilot. For each firm, several reviews were promoting their services across the Trustpilot pages of several financial firms. In one case, 93 reviews were written by the same person in one day, all praising one of these recovery services.

When we investigated these legal services further, we discovered red flags with all of them: 

• All the websites were created in September and October, around the same time that the mass reviews were written.
• On some websites, the links didn’t lead anywhere, and another used AI-generated images to illustrate the company’s team members.
• The business addresses listed on the websites were also suspicious. One website listed the entire state of Pennsylvania in the United States, another linked to a dissolved company and one led to a virtual office.

Which? contacted all six companies and didn’t get a response before we published this article.

How does Trustpilot tackle fake reviews?

The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act, which became law in May 2024, banned fake reviews. We contacted Trustpilot about the dodgy reviews we found, and it confirmed that it's investigating the firms.

Trustpilot told us that all reviews submitted on its platform are run through generative AI technology to check for anything suspicious before they’re published.

You can report reviews on Trustpilot by selecting the flag under the review.

‘They insisted that they had already located the money owed to me’

'I was contacted by a company which claimed it could recover funds I had previously lost through another financial transaction. They presented themselves as specialists in asset recovery and insisted that they had already located the money owed to me,’ Holly (not her real name) told Which? after she was caught out by an investment scam.

The recovery fraudsters went on to tell a convincing story. ‘At first, this sounded hopeful and reassuring, especially because they used professional language. They explained that in order to process the recovery, I would need to cover certain audit fees, compliance checks and clearance charges.

‘They made it clear that these fees were not payments to them directly but mandatory requirements imposed by regulators and financial institutions. I was told that once these audits and processes were completed, my funds would be released in full,’ Holly explained.

She began transferring money with the reassurance that the firm’s recovery of her lost money was in its best interest, as it would take 7-10% of the recovered funds.

However, after paying the fees the firm requested, she was asked to send over more and more money for random, made-up reasons.

‘I now recognise this for what it is: a manipulative scheme designed to exploit people who have already suffered financial loss. They preyed on my hope and trust, giving me false confidence that funds would be returned. I am now out of pocket £20,000,’ Holly concluded.

How to get your money back after being scammed

If you paid a scammer using cash or gift vouchers, it can be very challenging to get your money back. You should still report this to your bank and the police. For gift vouchers, you should tell the retailer you bought them from, as it may be able to stop the use of the vouchers. 

If you paid via bank transfer, you don't need the help of a third party to appeal to your bank for reimbursement. Since October 2024, it has been mandatory for banks to reimburse faultless victims of Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud, which are scams where you’re convinced into paying a fraudster by bank transfer. Which? has a template letter you can use to write to your bank and fight your case.

If you do want to use an organisation to help your case, always check the FCA Firm Checker to see if a company is authorised by the FCA for the services being offered. Check the FCA’s register to make sure it’s registered, and avoid firms on the FCA’s warning list.

If you paid using a credit card and the transaction was for more than £100, you could claim under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act. 

For PayPal transactions, you may be protected under its Buyer Protection scheme.

If you lose any money to a scam, call your bank immediately using the number on the back of your bank card and report it to Action Fraud, or call the police on 101 if you’re in Scotland.