The Federal Financial Supervisory Authority — BaFin (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht) — is Germany’s real financial watchdog. Its consumer site is bafin.de. You can look firms up in its company database, and it regularly warns about unauthorised brokers and about fraud that abuses its name.
That second problem is the one that bites victims. Callers and mail claim to be BaFin staff, wave forged letters with logos, and offer to recover crypto losses, “register escrow accounts”, or levy a fee to unblock a transfer. BaFin’s own guidance is blunt: it does not cold-contact private people to sell products, does not recover investments for a charge, and does not ask for crypto or gift cards. Official email is on @bafin.de (plus a stated government newsletter address). Addresses such as [email protected] are costume jewellery.
If a broker says “we are under BaFin” while chatting on Telegram, verify the legal entity in BaFin’s register — the marketing name is not enough. If someone claiming to be BaFin wants a payment, hang up, keep the evidence, and report to the police. You can also contact BaFin through the channels published on its site to ask whether a letter is genuine.
If this sounds familiar, start at Get help. If someone is already selling a paid “fix”, read Fake recovery before you send another fee.
This article is for general information only. It is not legal or financial advice. Details change. If you have lost money, contact your bank or card issuer and use the routes on the help pages.