CySEC Issues Urgent Warning: Fake Recovery Websites Exploiting Investment Scam Victims

The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) has issued a public warning about a new wave of online scams targeting individuals who have already fallen victim to fraudulent investment schemes. These so-called “recovery services” pose as legitimate entities—sometimes even impersonating CySEC itself—offering false promises of fund retrieval, only to exploit their targets a second time.

Sophisticated Scams Exploit Investor Desperation

According to CySEC, several fraudulent websites have been actively luring victims under the pretense of helping them reclaim lost funds. The commission has specifically flagged the following domains:

getyourmoneyback.ltd
getyoursback.org
theystole.net
chargebackinternational.com
chargebackme.com
chargebackmoney.biz

These operations, often promoted via online ads and social media, are designed to harvest personal and financial information through seemingly legitimate forms, email correspondence, and phone calls. CySEC has also warned that similar sites may still be operating undetected.

“In many cases, these scammers contact individuals directly, pretending to act on behalf of CySEC,” the regulator stated. “They use lookalike email addresses and official-sounding language to create a false sense of legitimacy.”

Recovery Fraud on the Rise

This latest warning highlights a growing trend known as recovery fraud, where con artists deliberately re-target people already harmed by financial scams. Victims—often feeling hopeless or desperate—become easy prey for fraudsters promising to recover their funds, sometimes for an upfront fee.

Recovery fraud is not new, and CySEC joins other global regulators in repeatedly sounding the alarm. In one notable Europol case earlier this year, a transnational criminal group made over $20 million by scamming the same group of victims three separate times.

Similar scams have emerged across Europe, including a network of fake legal firms that defrauded Polish forex and crypto investors in late 2023. The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is also frequently impersonated in such schemes.

How to Spot the Red Flags

CySEC emphasized that it never contacts individuals unsolicited, nor does it request sensitive personal or financial details through email or phone. It does not participate in private compensation processes or legal actions, nor does it appoint third parties to collect fees or provide recovery services.

Victims who receive suspicious messages claiming to represent CySEC are urged to confirm legitimacy by contacting the regulator directly at [email protected]. Official CySEC communications will always originate from email addresses ending in @cysec.gov.cy.

CySEC also reminded investors that it cannot recover funds on behalf of individuals, and no person or company is authorized to do so in its name.

The Danger of Being Victimized Twice

These recovery scams represent a particularly insidious form of financial crime. By exploiting the trust and emotional vulnerability of people who have already suffered losses, fraudsters compound the damage. What begins as hope for justice often ends in further loss—financial, emotional, and psychological.

To help protect investors, CySEC maintains a regularly updated list of unregulated firms, impersonators, and scam warnings on its official website. It also offers an educational guide to help consumers identify and avoid online financial fraud.

This warning from CySEC follows a broader trend of regulators cracking down on increasingly deceptive fraud tactics. In a similar move, Germany’s BaFin recently targeted Aurealis Capital and Minexra for allegedly promoting fraudulent investment schemes via WhatsApp — a case that further highlights the evolving nature of online financial scams.

Forex

Lists