How to Report a Fake Website That Took Your Money

To report a fake website that took your money, call your bank, card issuer or payment app first and ask them to reverse the charge. Then save screenshots of the site, your order confirmation and the payment record, and file reports with the FTC, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center and your local police. Finally, flag the site to Google Safe Browsing and to the company that registered its domain.

Whether you get your money back depends mostly on how you paid. Credit cards come with a federal dispute process, while bank transfers, Zelle and gift cards are much harder to undo. Fake stores often look polished and professional, so falling for one says nothing about you. At TrustCamera we build a camera app for photos anyone can check, which is why we follow online scams closely. For this guide, we pulled together what the FTC, the FBI's IC3, Google and ICANN say, as of September 2026.

How to report a fake website: the steps at a glance

Reporting a fake online store works best in a set order. Protect your money first, because card disputes and payment reversals depend on speed. Next, save your evidence while the site is still online. Then file official reports and flag the site to Google and the domain registrar, so fewer shoppers land on it.

1. Stop paying: Don't send more money to the store, whatever reason it gives.
2. Call your bank or card issuer: Report the scam and ask for a refund or reversal.
3. Save the evidence: Screenshot the site and keep the order confirmation, emails and payment record.
4. File official reports: Use ReportFraud.ftc.gov, IC3 and your local police.
5. Flag the website: Report it to Google Safe Browsing and to the domain registrar's abuse contact.
6. Lock down your data: Replace the card and change passwords if you entered them on the site.

Steps 1 and 2 are the most urgent. Try to get the rest done the same day, before the site goes offline. If you're still unsure whether the store is fake, or want to spot the next one before you order, read our guide on how to tell if a website is legit.

First, call your bank, card issuer or payment app

Once the package doesn't arrive, the store stops answering or the site goes dark, don't send another cent. The FTC's advice for people who paid a scammer is to contact the company you used to send the money right away and ask whether it can reverse the payment. Just as plainly, the FTC warns that scammers ask you to pay in ways that make them hard to track down, and that your money might be gone already. Asking is always worth it, though.

Use the number on the back of your card or inside your bank's official app, never a phone number from an email the store sent you. Have the date, the amount and the merchant name as it appears on your statement ready, plus your order number. Say clearly that you paid a fraudulent website. Afterward, jot down when you called, who you spoke with and what the bank said it would do.

Save every email and chat with the store before you block it or delete anything. There's no need to argue with the seller. In our view, one short message asking for delivery or a refund by a set date is plenty, and it gives you a record for a dispute.

Can you get your money back from a fake website?

Your options depend almost entirely on the payment method. As a rule of thumb, the more a financial company stands between you and the store, the better your chances. Here's what to try for each one.

Credit cards: dispute the charge in writing

A credit card comes with rights written into federal law. Under the Fair Credit Billing Act, you can dispute charges for things you didn't accept or that weren't delivered as agreed, as the FTC explains. Write to the issuer at its address for billing inquiries, not the payment address, so your letter reaches it within 60 days after the first bill with the charge was sent to you. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says to call right away, but to send the letter too, to protect your rights.

According to the FTC, the issuer must acknowledge your complaint in writing within 30 days of getting it and resolve the dispute within 90 days. While it investigates, you can hold off paying the disputed amount, but you still owe the rest of your bill. Keep a copy of your letter and send it by certified mail with a return receipt if you want proof it arrived.

Debit cards, bank transfers and Zelle

For these, the FTC's advice is to report the payment to your bank or credit union immediately and ask it to reverse the payment and refund your money. Be prepared for a no, especially with Zelle and bank transfers, because the money moves fast and is hard to pull back. Ask anyway, and ask for a case number.

PayPal and other payment apps

With Venmo, Cash App or PayPal, the FTC says to report the scam to the app right away and ask for a reversal. PayPal adds a formal dispute process through its Purchase Protection program for eligible goods and services payments, while personal payments sent with friends and family aren't covered. Our guide on what to do if you were scammed on Facebook Marketplace walks through PayPal's deadlines, and our article on the PayPal friends and family scam explains why fake sellers push for that option.

Wire transfers, gift cards and crypto

If you paid through Western Union or MoneyGram, contact the company immediately, tell it a scammer tricked you and ask for a refund. For gift cards, call the issuer using the number on the back of the card and keep the card and receipt. Crypto payments don't have the same legal protections as credit and debit cards, the FTC warns, so contact the exchange or ATM operator right away.

Save the evidence before the fake store disappears

Your bank, the FTC, IC3 and the police will all want the same details, and a fake store can go offline at any time. Save everything now, and keep copies somewhere other than your phone, for example in an email to yourself.

• The website: the full web address, plus screenshots of the product page, checkout, contact page and any "about us" or return policy page.
• The order: your order confirmation, order number and every email from the store, including the full email headers if you can view them.
• The payment: your card statement, bank record or payment app receipt showing the amount, date and recipient.
• Other contact: chat logs, phone numbers and texts from the store's "customer service."
• The delivery: tracking numbers, the package and its contents if something cheap or fake arrived.

The FBI's IC3 lists electronic copies of web pages and emails with full header information among the evidence worth keeping. Write a short timeline too: when you ordered and paid, when delivery was due and when you last heard from the store. If a counterfeit arrived instead of the real thing, keep it with its packaging and photograph everything as you unpack it. Our guide on how to tell if something is counterfeit covers the telltale signs.

File reports with the FTC, IC3 and local police

Start with the Federal Trade Commission at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. The FTC says it uses reports to build cases against scammers, spot trends and educate the public. Filing there doesn't reverse your payment, which is why your bank or card issuer comes first.

Next, file a complaint with the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center. The IC3 FAQ names non-delivery of goods as one of the cyber-enabled crimes it takes complaints about, and its form asks for the website involved. Analysts at IC3 review complaints and share information with law enforcement and partner agencies as appropriate. IC3 doesn't investigate cases itself and won't send you status updates. Save or print a copy of your complaint when you submit it, because IC3 says that's your only chance to keep one.

For time-sensitive cases, IC3 advises contacting local law enforcement directly. Call your police department's non-emergency line or check whether it takes reports online, and keep the report number, since your bank or card issuer may ask for it. You can also report the scam to your state attorney general. USA.gov keeps a directory of every state's office.

Report a fake website to Google and the domain registrar

Official reports go after the people behind the store. Flagging the site itself helps keep the next shopper away. Google Safe Browsing powers the warning that Chrome and other browsers show before someone opens a dangerous page, and Google takes reports of suspected phishing sites through its Safe Browsing report form. In our view, a store that copies a real brand or collects card numbers for goods that never ship fits that description. Google decides for itself whether to list the site.

The domain registrar is the company that sold the site its web address. ICANN, the nonprofit that coordinates domain names, requires the registrars it accredits to keep an abuse contact, publish the email address on their website and list it in Whois results. They also have to take reasonable and prompt steps to investigate reports of abuse. ICANN's step-by-step guide on DNS abuse points to its ICANN Lookup tool, which lists the abuse contact under "Registrar Information."

Send the registrar the full web address, a short description of what happened, a few screenshots and your IC3 or police reference if you have one. Whether it suspends the domain is up to the registrar. ICANN says it can't enforce rules for country-code domains such as .us or .uk, which follow the policies of their own registry. If the link to the store reached you by text message, our guide to the USPS text scam explains how to report the message itself.

If you entered card details or a password on the site

Some fake stores are less interested in your order than in your data. If you typed your card number into the site, ask your issuer to cancel the card and send you a new one, then watch your statements for charges you don't recognize. For unauthorized credit card charges, the FTC notes that federal law limits your responsibility to $50, and the FCBA dispute process covers them too.

If you created an account on the store with a password you use elsewhere, change it everywhere you've used it. The FTC recommends a new, strong password and two-factor authentication for any account whose login a scammer may have. If the checkout asked for your Social Security number, which a real store rarely needs in our view, go to IdentityTheft.gov. The FTC says to report it there and follow the recovery plan if the number was misused, or to follow its protection steps if you're not sure.

Watch out for recovery scams after a fake store

People who just lost money to a fake website are prime targets for a second scam. The FTC warns about refund and recovery scams, in which scammers buy lists of people who've already paid a scammer. Then they promise to get the money back for an upfront "retainer fee" or "processing fee." Some ask for your bank account number, supposedly to deposit a refund.

These callers may claim to be from a government agency, a consumer advocacy group, a law firm or even the fake store itself, offering refunds to unhappy customers. According to the FTC, government agencies and legitimate organizations will never ask for money to help you get a refund, and won't guarantee that you'll get it back.

IC3 is just as clear: its FAQ says you won't hear from IC3 after you file. In a July 2026 warning, the FBI added that IC3 never contacts people directly by phone, email or social media and never asks for payment to recover lost funds.

Before your next order: vet the store and pay with protection

In our view, the habit that protects you most is paying with a credit card, because of the dispute rights described above. If a store suddenly offers only Zelle, a wire transfer, gift cards or crypto at checkout, walk away. Our comparison of the safest way to pay on Facebook Marketplace explains which payment methods protect buyers and which don't, and the same logic applies to online stores.

Reviews and trust badges on a store's own pages prove little, because anyone can paste them in. Our guide on how to spot fake reviews shows what bought or invented reviews look like. A reverse image search on the product photos can also reveal whether they were lifted from another shop or a manufacturer's site.

Before you order from a store you've never used, take two minutes to check the web address, the contact details and the prices against other shops. Our guide on vetting online stores before you buy collects every red flag in one checklist. In our view, a price far below every other retailer is still one of the clearest warning signs.

Frequently asked questions about how to report a fake website

Can you report a fake website if you didn't lose money?

Yes. You can flag a suspected phishing or scam site to Google Safe Browsing and report it to the domain registrar's abuse contact without having paid anything. The FTC also asks you to report at ReportFraud.ftc.gov if you were scammed or think you saw a scam. Each report helps get the site in front of someone who can warn others or act on it.

How do I report a fake website that took my money?

Call your bank, card issuer or payment app first and ask for a refund or reversal. Then save screenshots, emails and your payment record. File reports at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, with the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov and with your local police. Finally, report the site to Google Safe Browsing and to its domain registrar.

Can I get my money back from a fake website?

Sometimes, and it depends on how you paid. With a credit card, the Fair Credit Billing Act lets you dispute charges for goods that weren't delivered, if your letter reaches the issuer within 60 days after the first bill with the charge was sent. PayPal goods and services payments come with a dispute process. With Zelle, bank transfers, gift cards or crypto, recovery is much harder.

How do I report a fake website to Google?

Use Google's Safe Browsing report form for suspected phishing sites and enter the full web address. Safe Browsing powers the warnings that Chrome and other browsers show before people open a dangerous page. Google decides for itself whether to add a site to its list, so report it to the FTC and the domain registrar as well.

What happens after I report a fake website to the FTC or IC3?

The FTC uses reports to build cases against scammers, spot trends and educate the public, but a report doesn't reverse your payment. IC3 analysts review complaints and share information with law enforcement and partner agencies. It doesn't investigate cases itself or send status updates, so contact your local police directly if your case is urgent.

What if I ordered from a fake website but haven't been charged yet?

Call your card issuer anyway, explain that the store is fraudulent and ask whether the pending charge can be stopped. If you entered your card number on the site, ask for a new card. Watch your statements over the next few weeks, and change any password you used when you created an account on the site.

Is it worth reporting a fake website over a small amount?

Yes. The FTC uses reports to spot trends and build cases, and a store that scammed you has usually targeted other shoppers as well, in our view. A report also gives you a reference number if your bank, card issuer or payment app asks for documentation later.

Conclusion: protect your money first, then report everything

If a fake website took your money, speed matters most. Call your bank, card issuer or payment app, save the evidence before the store disappears, and file with the FTC, IC3 and your local police. A credit card dispute gives you a real process if you meet the deadline, while bank transfers, Zelle and gift cards are often gone for good.

Then report a fake website to the services that can warn others or pull its address: Google Safe Browsing and the domain registrar. Protect your card and accounts if you typed anything sensitive into the site, and hang up on anyone who offers to recover your money for a fee.