Scammed by a Fake Website? How to Try to Get Your Money Back and Report It

You ordered from an online store, maybe after seeing an ad on social media, and nothing came, or something cheap and different showed up. How you paid decides what you can do, and card disputes have deadlines, so start today. Here’s how to try to get your money back, protect your card, report the site and check the next store before you buy.

What to do if you got scammed by a fake website

1. Contact whoever moved your money, today. Report it to your card issuer, bank or payment app, and ask for a refund or for the payment to be reversed (FTC). Use a phone number or website you know is real, like the number on the back of your card (IdentityTheft.gov).
2. Go to your card company before the seller. For most problems, the FTC says to contact your card issuer first, so you don’t lose your right to dispute because of timing (FTC).
3. Save the evidence now. Keep your receipts and copies of emails and of the site’s web pages (FBI’s IC3), plus anything showing the delivery date you were promised (FTC). Do it soon: the FBI warns that flashy websites “can be set up and taken down quickly” (FBI).

What happens if you order from a fake website?

Often, nothing arrives. Here’s what people reported to the FTC in 2025 about shopping scams that started with a social media ad (FTC):

• Many ads led to unfamiliar websites. Others led to sites impersonating well-known brands with big discounts.
• Most people said they paid for things that never arrived.
• When orders did show up, the items were often counterfeits or very different from the ad, and high return shipping costs made returns unworkable.

In complaints the FBI reviewed in 2020, sellers offered partial refunds if buyers kept the wrong items, or told them to ship the items back overseas at high postage costs. None of those buyers got a full refund or the items they ordered (FBI).

Can I get my money back from a fake website?

Maybe. It depends mostly on how you paid. Paying by credit card “best protects you and your money in case of a scam,” the FTC says (FTC). Whatever you used, ask for your money back: the FTC says it’s always worth asking.

How you paid	First move	Full guide
Credit card	Call the issuer to dispute the charge, then follow up in writing before the 60-day deadline below (FTC)	Cards
Debit card	Call your bank now. You may not get a refund for non-delivery (FTC)	Cards
PayPal, Venmo or Cash App	Report it to the app now and ask it to reverse the payment (FTC)	PayPal, Venmo, Cash App
Zelle or bank transfer	Report it to your bank now and ask it to reverse the payment (FTC)	Zelle
Apple Pay	Call the bank that issued the card you paid with (Apple, FTC)	Apple Pay
Gift card	Call the number on the back, say a scammer got the number and PIN, and keep the card and receipt (FTC)	Gift cards
Cryptocurrency	Ask the exchange or crypto ATM operator to reverse it. Recovery can be hard (FTC)	Bitcoin ATM

Bought from a seller on Facebook Marketplace? See that guide.

Paid by credit card: how the dispute works

Under the Fair Credit Billing Act, charges for items you didn’t accept or that weren’t delivered as agreed are billing errors you can dispute. Disputes about quality aren’t (FTC).

• Deadline: dispute in writing within 60 days of the date the first statement with the charge was sent to you. Otherwise, “you may get stuck with the bill.”
• Call, then write. Even if you dispute by phone or online, follow up with a letter to the address for billing disputes, not the one for payments. The FTC has a sample letter.
• What happens next: the issuer must acknowledge your dispute in writing within 30 days and resolve it within two billing cycles, but not more than 90 days. You don’t have to pay the disputed amount meanwhile, but you must pay the rest (FTC).
• Don’t wait on shipping promises. If a promised delivery date falls more than 60 days after the statement, you’re likely outside the law’s protection, though some issuers may extend the period when a shipment is delayed (FTC).

If you entered your card number on a fake website

A thief could try to use your card number to make purchases, IdentityTheft.gov warns. Its steps (IdentityTheft.gov):

1. Contact your bank or card company to cancel the card and request a new one.
2. Review your transactions. If you find fraudulent charges, call the fraud department and get them removed.
3. Update any automatic payments with the new card number.

If your account number is used but your card isn’t lost or stolen, you aren’t responsible for credit card charges you didn’t authorize. With a debit card, that holds if you report within 60 calendar days after your statement is sent (FTC).

• Made an account with a password? Change that password anywhere else you use it (IdentityTheft.gov), and turn on two-factor authentication (FTC).
• Gave your Social Security or bank account number? The FTC warns that fake shopping sites can be designed to steal that kind of information, and that a scammer might use it to steal your identity (FTC). See what to do if you gave a scammer your Social Security number or bank account number.

More: I gave a scammer my credit card number. Reached the site from a text or email? See I clicked a phishing link.

How to report a fake website

1. FTC: report the site and the ad at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, whether you lost money or only spotted it (FTC). The FTC shares reports with over 2,000 law enforcers but can’t resolve individual reports (ReportFraud.ftc.gov).
2. FBI: file at IC3.gov, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center. Its examples of cyber-enabled crime include non-delivery of goods (IC3), and it asks you to file even if you’re unsure your complaint qualifies (IC3). You won’t hear back from IC3, and it doesn’t accept attachments, so keep your evidence (IC3). More: is IC3 legit?
3. The platform that showed you the ad. On Facebook or Instagram, click Options next to the ad, then Report ad. If it’s gone from your feed, search the Meta Ad Library for the ad or the advertiser and report it there (Meta). For a Google ad or shopping listing, use Google’s reporting form, which covers scams and phishing.
4. Google Safe Browsing: if you think a page is unsafe and Google isn’t warning about it, you can report it to Safe Browsing.

The report-a-scam tool lists official channels by type of scam, and the scam recovery checklist tracks your steps.

How to check if a website is legit before you buy

• Search the seller, not just the brand. Look up the seller’s name and the web address the ad sends you to, plus “review,” “complaint” or “scam” (FTC). Don’t assume the seller is the brand named in the ad (FTC). If little to no information about a vendor exists, the FBI says to shop elsewhere (FBI).
• Compare prices. A price much, much lower than elsewhere is probably a scam (FTC), and brand-name items at bargain prices could be counterfeit or stolen (FTC).
• Don’t trust the look or the padlock. The FBI says scammers use AI to mimic legitimate websites and retailers “with incredible accuracy” (FBI). Some cloned car dealer sites even include fake customer testimonials (FTC). The “s” in https means a site is encrypted, not that it’s legitimate: “Scammers know how to encrypt sites, too” (FTC).
• Get there yourself. Scammers buy search ads that impersonate brands, and a fake address may differ from the real one by a typo or a misplaced letter. Type the business’s web address into your browser instead (FBI), or scroll past the paid search results (FTC).
• Check the domain’s age. In complaints the FBI reviewed in 2020, fake shopping sites’ web addresses had been registered within the previous six months, and the FBI suggested checking a retailer’s domain registration information (FBI). ICANN’s free Lookup tool shows a domain’s public registration data, which can include the date the registration was created (ICANN).
• Check Google’s Safe Browsing status. Google’s site status tool shows whether a site is “currently dangerous to visit,” and Google notes that site safety “can change over time” (Google). Safe Browsing aims to protect people from malware, unwanted software and social engineering such as phishing (Google).
• Look at the contact details. In the FBI’s 2020 complaints, fake shopping sites listed real U.S. addresses and phone numbers unrelated to the seller. Be wary of a retailer using a free email service instead of a company address (FBI).
• Pay by credit card, and read the terms. Never buy from sellers who insist on gift cards, wire transfers, payment apps or cryptocurrency: “Only scammers will demand you pay in those ways” (FTC). Check the price, other charges, the refund policy, who pays return shipping and any restocking fee (FTC).

Black Friday scams: fake stores and “one-day only” deals

The FBI has warned that scammers “frequently prey on Black Friday and Cyber Monday bargain hunters” with “One-Day Only” promotions from recognized brands (FBI, 2021). Before the 2025 holidays, the FTC warned that scammers sometimes impersonate real companies on social media with ads for brand-name products at unusually low prices. The link could send you to a site designed to take your money for a counterfeit, something that looks completely different, or nothing at all (FTC, November 2025). The FBI’s Jacksonville office listed fake shopping sites among the top scams of that season (FBI, December 2025).

• In 2025, shopping scams were the most reported scam on social media: more than 40% of people who lost money to a social media scam said it started with an order from an ad (FTC). People reported losing more than $95 million to those scams (FTC).
• The FBI’s IC3 received 56,478 non-payment or non-delivery complaints in 2025, with reported losses of more than $503 million (IC3).

After the holidays, keep checking your bank and credit card statements, as the FBI suggests (FBI).

Watch for the follow-up scam

• “Recovery” offers. Scammers buy and trade lists of people who’ve lost money, then offer to get it back, or to recover the item you never got, for an upfront fee. Government agencies and legitimate organizations never ask for money to help you get a refund (FTC).
• A refund check for too much. If a “refund” check is for more than you lost and you’re asked to send back the difference, that’s always a scam (FTC).
• Fake IC3 or FBI contacts. IC3 never contacts people directly by phone, email or social media, and never asks for payment to recover lost funds. Type www.ic3.gov into your browser rather than using a search engine (IC3).

What varies

• Your bank, card issuer or app. Credit cards have stronger legal protections than debit cards, but some debit card companies voluntarily offer more than they’re required to (FTC).
• Crypto and your state. Crypto payments don’t have the legal protections cards do, but some states have passed laws that might help (FTC).
• A real store that’s just late. It must ship when promised, or within 30 days if it didn’t say, and let you cancel for a full refund if there’s a delay (FTC).