The Short Answer
If you gave bank or personal details to a caller pretending to be from a government agency, act quickly and you can often limit or undo the damage. The most important moves are to call your bank now, lock down your identity, and watch for a follow-up "recovery" scam. ScamVerify™ sees the calls behind this every day, across the 369,525 government-impersonation complaints in our FTC and FCC data. You are far from the only person this has happened to, and the steps below work. Start at the top and go in order.
First, Take a Breath
Falling for one of these calls does not make you careless or foolish. They are engineered by professionals to create fear and rush you past your own judgment, and they work on smart, careful people every day. Shame is the thing that stops people from acting and reporting, which is exactly what the scammer is counting on. You did nothing wrong by being targeted. What matters now is moving fast.
What to Do Right Now (In Order)
- Call your bank or card issuer immediately. Use the number on the back of your card or your statement. Tell them you were scammed, and ask them to flag or freeze the account, stop or reverse any pending transfers, and issue new cards or account numbers.
- If you moved or sent money, ask the bank to attempt a recall or reversal. For wires and payment apps, speed matters most in the first hours. For gift cards, call the card company and report it as used in a scam.
- Change your online banking password and turn on two-factor authentication. If you reused that password anywhere else, change it there too.
- Place a fraud alert with one of the three credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion); it is free and the one you contact notifies the others. Consider a free credit freeze, which blocks new accounts from being opened in your name.
- Report identity theft and get a recovery plan at IdentityTheft.gov. If money was lost, also report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, and at IC3.gov for wire or crypto.
Use this quick reference for the fastest move based on what you gave the caller:
| What you gave the scammer | Do this first |
|---|---|
| Bank account or card number | Call your bank now; freeze it and get new cards |
| Online banking password | Change it and turn on two-factor authentication |
| Money already sent (wire or app) | Ask your bank to recall or reverse it; act within hours |
| A gift card | Call the card company and report it used in a scam |
| Your Social Security number | Place a free fraud alert and freeze your credit |
Got a call like this?
Tell Ava what happened. She checks it against millions of FTC and FCC complaints and real-time carrier data, then tells you exactly what you are dealing with.
Then: Keep Watching
- Monitor your accounts daily for the next few weeks. Look for small "test" charges as well as large ones.
- Set up account alerts so your bank texts you on new transactions.
- Check your credit report at AnnualCreditReport.com for any account you did not open.
Beware the "We Can Get Your Money Back" Scam
This is the trap that hits people right after, so know it before it happens. Scam victims are frequently targeted a second time by criminals posing as investigators, lawyers, government agencies, or "fund recovery" services who promise to recover the money, for a fee. It is a second scam, every time. No legitimate organization charges an upfront fee to get your money back, and no real agency will call you out of the blue offering to do it. If someone contacts you promising to recover your loss, treat it as a scam and hang up.
How to Know It Was a Scam in the First Place
Real government agencies do not call to demand payment, threaten arrest, or ask you to verify bank details or move money. If the call did any of that, it was a scam, no matter how official it sounded or how much the caller seemed to know about you. For how the specific versions work, see our guides to the sheriff warrant scam and the police arrest scam, why knowing your details proves nothing, and the full government impersonation breakdown.
Let Ava Walk You Through It
Every situation is a little different, and the right next step depends on exactly what you shared and what the caller did. Describe what happened to Ava, or paste the number that called you. She checks it against the same complaint and carrier data we track, confirms what you are dealing with, and gives you a clear, specific plan for your case, including what to watch for next.
