If you’ve recently been scammed or you’re in the middle of one right now, you don’t need a twelve-minute dramatization. You need the phone numbers. Here they are, in the order to call them.
You are not the first. You will not be the last. The people on the other end of these lines have heard your story before.
First: did money already move?
If a wire, Zelle, ACH, debit card, or credit card transfer left your account in the last 72 hours — call the bank’s fraud line first. The number on the back of your card. Only the originating bank can request a wire recall, and the recall window is hours, not days. Tell them the amount, the date, and the payment rail. Then call BBB CT (860-740-4500) in parallel — they will start the multi-agency reporting chain (FBI IC3, CT AG, CT State Police) while the bank works the recall.
If the loss was gift cards, crypto, cash, or money order: clawback options are near-zero, so BBB CT first (below) is the right call. The priority becomes reporting the pattern, freezing the account from follow-up scams, and starting the federal filing.
1. Better Business Bureau Connecticut
Call this first unless money moved by wire, Zelle, ACH, or card in the last 72 hours — in that case, see the red box above and call your bank’s fraud line first, then BBB CT in parallel. For every other situation (gift cards, crypto, an ongoing scam that hasn’t completed, suspicious calls or letters, identity exposure): BBB Connecticut’s intake desk runs the full multi-agency recovery playbook from one phone call — they’ll walk you through filing with the FBI IC3 and reporting to CT State Police, all while staying on the line with you. They have heard every scam pattern that’s active in CT this year. Their advice is faster and more accurate than navigating each agency individually.
Open weekdays, 9 AM – 5 PM ET. Voicemail off-hours; they return calls. If it’s after-hours and there’s active financial loss, skip to #2 below.
2. Your bank’s fraud line
If money has already moved, call the number on the back of your card and ask for the fraud department. Not customer service — the fraud department. Tell them the amount, the date, and the payment rail (wire, Zelle, Bitcoin kiosk, gift cards). Some transfers can be clawed back if you call within the first few hours; many cannot, but the bank still needs to know to protect your account from follow-up scams.
Do not call any “fraud line” number given to you by the person who scammed you. Use the number on your card.
3. FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)
File a complaint with the FBI. Online form, takes about fifteen minutes. Even if you don’t recover your money, your filing feeds the federal pattern data that helps agencies track and prosecute the scam rings. Your case becomes part of the evidence that protects the next person.
4. Connecticut Attorney General
860-808-5318 · portal.ct.gov/AG
The CT Attorney General’s office investigates consumer fraud at the state level, particularly patterns affecting multiple CT residents. They coordinate with BBB Connecticut on regional alerts. Reporting here helps the office build cases against scam operations targeting Connecticut.
5. Connecticut State Police
For active threats — someone showing up at your home, escalating calls, identity theft in progress — contact your local CT State Police barracks. Non-emergency dispatch: 860-685-6200. Emergencies: 911.
A few things worth knowing
You are not stupid. Scams that get this far were designed by people whose full-time job is overriding good judgment with engineered urgency. Sophisticated, careful, smart people get scammed every day in this state. The shame keeps people from calling for help, which is what the scammers count on. Call anyway.
Recovery is sometimes partial. Some money is recoverable through bank clawback or chargeback. Most wired cash and crypto is not. The recovery process is real and worth pursuing even when full recovery isn’t possible — your filing protects the next person, and partial recovery is still recovery.
Tell someone you trust within hours, not days. The single most protective thing scam victims do is loop in one trusted person (adult child, sibling, close friend, attorney) within the first few hours. Scammers rely on isolation. Don’t give them that.
Expect follow-up scams. Within 30-90 days, you may be contacted by someone claiming to be a “recovery service” offering to get your money back for a fee. This is the same operation. Do not pay them.