After a broker or crypto loss, the next voice in the inbox often wears a borrowed badge. One favourite is the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Scammers cast it as a world police force for money: blocking wallets, clearing individual transfers, licensing private “recovery” firms, or holding seized assets until you pay a tax, insurance deposit, or source-of-funds check. None of that matches what FATF actually does. It is an intergovernmental body that sets anti-money-laundering standards and reviews national systems. It does not chase private disputes, run payment rails, or call victims on WhatsApp.
FATF publishes its own fraud warning for exactly this abuse. Impersonators have used letterheads and logos, unofficial “Financial Action Taskforce” stamps, real or invented official names, links to the genuine fatf-gafi.org site inside fake PDFs, spoofed sender addresses, and even WhatsApp profiles with the organisation’s mark. A newer twist is “FATF asset recovery” sold for a fee. The real organisation states plainly that it does not verify private transactions, demand commissions, or have the technical power to freeze bank accounts — and that it does not seize funds in individual cases.
The usual ladder is: first loss → cold contact from a “lawyer” or “department” who already knows your amounts → documents claiming money sits with FATF or a transit bank → an advance payment that never ends. Regulators elsewhere call these recovery-room scams. Hang up. Do not pay “AML certificates” or open mystery VASP accounts because a stranger emailed [email protected]. Use Get help for reporting paths, and read Fake recovery before you answer another official-looking crest.
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.