Investment fraud — crypto, forex, fake brokers.

Investment fraud produces some of the largest individual losses in the UK. Pig-butchering, cloned brokers, crypto trading mentors — the stories vary, but the legal route to a refund is the same. Here is how UK law treats investment scams and how to claim.

Is investment fraud covered by the PSR refund scheme?

Yes. Investment fraud is one of the named categories of Authorised Push Payment fraud covered by the Payment Systems Regulator’s Mandatory Reimbursement Scheme. If you sent the money from a UK bank account by Faster Payment or CHAPS to a UK-domiciled account on or after 7 October 2024, your bank must refund you up to £85,000 unless it can prove gross negligence.

What if the firm I paid was on the FCA register?

Check whether you actually paid the firm on the register or a "clone" of it. Cloned firm fraud — where scammers use the genuine firm’s name, FRN and address but their own bank details — is one of the most common investment fraud variants. The FCA publishes a clone warning list. Paying a cloned firm is still APP fraud and is still in scope of the PSR scheme.

I paid in crypto. Can I still claim?

If you used a UK bank Faster Payment to fund a UK-based crypto exchange, and the funds were then converted and sent on by the scammer, the original Faster Payment may still be claimable under the PSR scheme — particularly where the exchange was the immediate beneficiary and your bank should have flagged the destination. Cases involving crypto are factually complex and the Financial Ombudsman has heard a growing number of them.

How much can I get back?

The PSR cap is £85,000 per claim. The Financial Ombudsman’s award limit is £455,000. Above either threshold, civil recovery against the receiving account holder may be available — usually with a solicitor, and with a freezing injunction in serious cases. Some investment fraud losses run into seven figures.

I am embarrassed to come forward. Will anyone find out?

You are far from alone — investment fraud, particularly the long-grooming pig-butchering variant, has affected tens of thousands of UK adults across every demographic. The bank, the Financial Ombudsman and the police all treat the matter confidentially. Published Ombudsman decisions are anonymised. There is no shame and no public record.

Should I use a Claims Management Company?

No. CMCs typically charge 15–30% + VAT of any refund, and they cannot do anything you cannot do yourself for free under the PSR scheme and the Financial Ombudsman. The whole regime is designed for unrepresented consumers. If you want help with the paperwork, a fixed-fee document service is far cheaper than a percentage CMC.

UK guide to recovering money lost to investment fraud — cloned brokers, crypto trading scams, pig-butchering, social media trading mentors. The PSR scheme, FCA clone warnings, and how to claim against the bank that processed the payments.

Investment Fraud Refund

Scam Refund · Scam Types

Investment fraud — crypto, forex, fake brokers.

What investment fraud actually looks like

It rarely starts with an obvious pitch. Most cases begin with a polished website, a WhatsApp group, a LinkedIn message from someone offering “mentoring,” or a stranger on a dating app who happens to have done well in crypto. There is often a small initial deposit that produces apparent gains, a convincing trading dashboard, and weeks or months of relationship-building before any large sum is requested. By the time you try to withdraw, the gains are screen-only — and the platform demands more money for “tax,” “verification,” or “release fees” that never end. This pattern is called pig-butchering and Action Fraud lists it among the fastest-growing fraud categories in the UK.

Other common variants: cloned firm scams (the scammer uses the genuine name, FRN and address of an FCA-authorised firm but their own bank details), recovery scams (someone offering to recover your money from a previous fraud — for an upfront fee), and boiler-room share scams targeting older investors with unsolicited calls about supposedly unlisted high-growth companies.

The FCA Register — and the clone problem

Legitimate UK investment firms are listed on the FCA Register at

with a Firm Reference Number, a real address, and permitted activities. Scammers know this and build cloned sites that copy every detail but substitute their own bank account. The FCA publishes a Warning List of known clones at

fca.org.uk/scamsmart

. If you cannot find the firm on the register, or find it but the contact details on the website do not match, treat that as a red flag.

For refund purposes, paying a cloned firm is treated the same as any other APP fraud. You authorised the payment — but on the basis of a false representation about who you were paying. The PSR scheme applies.

Crypto — the Faster Payment angle

Many investment frauds involve crypto at some stage. The typical pattern: you send a Faster Payment from your UK bank to a UK-based crypto exchange, the exchange converts to crypto, and the scammer moves it on. Once it leaves the exchange it is effectively untraceable.

But the original Faster Payment from your UK bank to the UK exchange is itself in scope of the PSR scheme — even if the ultimate destination is a crypto wallet. The Financial Ombudsman has decided several cases on the basis that the sending bank should have detected unusual patterns: rapid escalation in payment size, payments to a crypto exchange by a customer with no prior crypto history, payments in tranches matching a known scam template. Crypto cases are complex, but they are not automatically closed.

The PSR scheme applies to investment fraud

Investment fraud is named in the PSR Mandatory Reimbursement Scheme as an in-scope category. If your last fraudulent payment was on or after 7 October 2024, went from a UK consumer account by Faster Payment or CHAPS to a UK-domiciled account, and totals up to £85,000 — your bank must refund you within five working days unless it can prove gross negligence. The receiving bank pays half.

If the loss is above the cap

Investment fraud losses sometimes run well above £85,000. The Financial Ombudsman has its own award limit of £455,000, and has taken a broad view of bank monitoring duties in large-loss cases. Above the FOS limit, civil recovery against the receiving account holder may be possible — usually with a solicitor, sometimes with a High Court freezing injunction, and generally only worth pursuing where the loss is well into six figures.

Watch out for recovery scams

Once someone has lost money to investment fraud, they are statistically likely to be approached by another scammer offering to recover it — for an upfront fee. These “recovery” or “asset retrieval” outfits are themselves frauds in almost every case. Action Fraud, the Financial Ombudsman, and the FCA are all free. No legitimate UK service demands a percentage of recovered funds upfront. If you get an unsolicited offer to help recover scammed money, treat it as another scam.

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Not legal advice. This guide is for general information only. For advice specific to your circumstances, consult a regulated legal professional or contact Citizens Advice.