Lost retirement savings to a crypto or wire-fraud scam?

You may have a claim if

• You lost $750,000 or more to an investment, romance, or impersonation scam
• The money moved through a U.S. bank, brokerage, or crypto exchange, or through a crypto ATM or wallet provider
• The transfers happened within the last two years
• Especially if you are 65 or older, or the institution was warned, asked questions, or paused a transfer and then let it through anyway

Why the institution may be liable

The scams take a familiar form: a “romance” contact who introduces an investment, or a caller impersonating a government agency or tech-support company who tells you to move your money to keep it safe. The scammer tells the victim not to tell anyone, is usually overseas, and is gone by the time the scam is discovered.

Banks, brokerages, and exchanges have duties under federal electronic-transfer law, California’s elder financial abuse statute, and their own account agreements and anti-fraud policies. When a retiree liquidates a lifetime of savings in days, wires money to accounts already flagged for fraud, or is allowed to transfer despite the institution’s own warning signs, the institution may be liable for the resulting harm.

What we will ask for

Account statements showing the transfers, any messages with the scammer, any police or FBI IC3 report, and any response you received from the bank or exchange. If you have not yet reported the loss to the institution in writing, do that now; it can affect your rights.

What we do not do

We do not trace or recover cryptocurrency directly, and we never charge an upfront fee to “recover” funds. People who contact you promising to get your stolen crypto back for a fee may be running their own scam.

What happens next

1. Tell us what happened. The form takes about two minutes.
2. An attorney reviews your answers and reaches out to you promptly.
3. If your situation fits the case, we explain your options. There is no fee unless we recover money for you.

Your team

Yaman Salahi
Founding Partner

Nicole Cabañez
Associate

Taylor Applegate
Associate

Michael Li
Senior Paralegal

This matter is part of our Consumer Protection practice. See our other open investigations.