Scammed with crypto? Beware of Asset Recovery Scams!

How to spot Asset Recovey scams after being scammed with crypto.

If you are a victim of crypto fraud, the first step is to report the fraud to the police. However, the police cannot always open a criminal investigation for your case. If you start looking online for alternative options, you will quickly read about Asset Recovery. These are often internationally operating services that promise victims they can recover lost funds. Great, that’s what you also want, but you have to be very cautious before engaging with such a service!

What should you pay attention to when choosing an investigation agency that offers crypto tracing or crypto asset recovery

Scammers!

Yes, indeed, there are fraudsters that are specifically targeting victims of scams. They are exploiting people who are often desperately seeking for help. Asset Recovery scams promise to investigate what happened and claim high success rates for recovering lost money. If you take on their offer, you may end up losing several thousands of euros on a tracing report of questionable quality. Proper blockchain analysis tools and experienced investigators has its price, especially in this relatively unknown area within financial investigations.

Another type of the Asset Recovery scam is when you're told your stolen funds have been found and are waiting for you in a crypto wallet. To release the funds, you are first required to pay a percentage of the amount in crypto as a service fee. After payment, you might receive fake crypto—or nothing at all.

In short, there is no guarentee for succes in recovering your losses through Asset Recovery services, it is very risksy.

False hope

There are also companies that offer crypto tracing and Asset Recovery services, where the quality of the investigation isn't the issue, but rather the raising of false hope. Of course, it's horrible that you’ve been scammed and lost your all of your savings. The reality is that the path of crypto tracing and a civil court case in the Netherlands—with a lawyer to obtain freezing orders, information requests, and subpoenas—comes with a substantial price. These costs must be somewhat proportional to the suffered financial loss. For example, if the damage is around €20,000, you should consider whether such a Asset Recovery service isn't selling false hope by iniating such a costly investigation.

Quality Check

When selecting a private investigation company that offers crypto tracing services, it is advisable to check whether the company is registered with the Chamber of Commerce under a relevant category. Some companies may be based abroad, which makes it more difficult to assess whether a company is operating legitimately. The reliability of a Dutch private investigation company is also enhanced if it holds a valid POB license — a permit for recognized private investigation agencies in the Netherlands, issued by the Ministry of Justice and Security. This should also be clearly stated in the investigation report.

You may inquire a bit more about which blockchain analysis tools will be used for the investigation, in order to assess the quality of these tools. Chainalysis and TRM Labs are examples of blockchain analytiscs tools that are accepted as evidence in court. But that also depends on the expertise of the investigator using these tools.

So you can also ask about the expertise of the investigators, what certifications they have and review their LinkedIn profile. In some cases, the identity of the actual investigator is not included in the report, but as the client, you can always request this information.

If you are asked to make an upfront payment in euro of crypto without a feasibility study or quick scan been done, be cautious.

DataExpert also offers crypto tracing investigations. When assisting victims in the Netherlands, we always clearly explain the path of a civil court case. In Dutch fraud cases, we work exclusively with trusted law firms such as Marius Hupkes Advocaten in Amsterdam. Whenever possible, we also offer to hand over our results to the Dutch police, to spark or push the police investigation on the victim's case forward.

DataExpert conducts a feasibility assessment free of charge, this is the fundament for an estimate of the required investigation hours and a quotation. We belief this approach distinguishes us from Asset Recovery scams and allows us to genuinely help victims and contribute to combatting crypto investment scams globally.

Have you been scammed and paid with crypto? Feel free to contact us at crypto@dataexpert.nl.