Before you hire anyone
Is that crypto recovery service a scam?
Probably. The overwhelming majority of businesses advertising crypto recovery exist to take a second payment from people who have already lost one. They are good at it, because they are talking to people who desperately want the answer to be yes.
This page is the checklist we would want a member of our own family to use - including on us.
Red flags
Nine things that mean walk away
Any one of these is enough. You do not need to wait for a second.
They want payment before doing any work
This is the single most reliable signal. A genuine recovery firm carries the risk of failure, because it can assess whether a case is winnable before committing. A scam needs your money up front because there is no second step. Watch for it dressed up as a 'security deposit', 'network fee', 'gas fee', 'liquidity requirement' or 'insurance bond'.
They guarantee they can recover it
Nobody can guarantee this before looking at the case, and often not even after. Some wallets are mathematically unrecoverable. A firm that guarantees success either does not understand the problem or is not planning to solve it.
They ask for your recovery phrase through a website, email or chat
There is no legitimate reason to transmit a seed phrase in plain text. Anyone holding your phrase can empty your wallet instantly and irreversibly. The request itself is the theft.
They found you rather than the other way round
Unsolicited contact after a loss - a comment on your post, a DM, an email offering to help - means someone has identified you as already vulnerable. Victim lists circulate. Being approached is itself the warning.
You cannot verify that they exist
No company registration you can look up, no named people, no address, no history that predates the website. Check the registration. Search the names. A real firm leaves a trail going back years.
They need remote access to your computer
Remote desktop tools hand over everything on the machine, including any wallet on it. Legitimate work does not begin with installing screen-sharing software at the request of a stranger.
They want payment in crypto only, to a personal wallet
Crypto payments are irreversible and hard to trace. A real business invoices, accepts normal payment methods, and issues receipts against a registered entity.
The pressure is constant and the deadline is artificial
'The window is closing.' 'We can only hold this slot today.' Urgency is manufactured to stop you checking. A genuine firm will tell you to take your time and get a second opinion.
They claim to be able to reverse blockchain transactions
This is not a thing. Confirmed transactions cannot be undone by anyone, at any price. Tracing stolen funds is real work; reversing a transaction is not something that exists.
What good looks like
Signs you are dealing with a real firm
Hold any recovery service to this list - us included.
- A free assessment before any money changes hands, and a straight answer about whether the case is winnable
- A registered business you can look up, with named people who have a history in the field
- Willingness to say 'this cannot be recovered' and walk away
- Fees contingent on success, set out in a written agreement before work starts
- No request for your seed phrase or private keys through any web form, email or message
- Sensitive work done offline, in person, on air-gapped equipment for anything of real value
- An NDA offered and signed before the engagement begins
- A clear explanation of the method that you can check independently
- No pressure, no deadline, and an invitation to get a second opinion
If it already happened
Reporting a recovery scam
Reporting will not usually get the money back, but it feeds the data that gets these operations shut down - and it creates the record you will need if tracing is ever attempted.
Netsafe
New Zealand's online safety organisation. Reports help warn others and feed the national picture of what is circulating and who is being targeted.
NZ Police
Call 105 or report online for cybercrime where there has been an actual financial loss. Use this route when money has gone, not just when someone tried to scam you.
Keep everything: messages, email headers, wallet addresses, transaction IDs, receipts, and the names used. If tracing is ever attempted, that material is what it runs on - and it is much harder to reconstruct later. Crypto Consulting NZ covers the wider scam landscape, including tracing and forensics.
You'll hear back from Nic or Harry directly - not a call centre. Beware of scammers.
Contact us
If you have run the checks above and want to talk to us, tell us what happened. The assessment is free and we will tell you honestly whether the wallet is recoverable - including when the answer is no.
No fee unless we succeed
10% of what's recovered, agreed in writing beforehand. Nothing if we fail.
We can come to you
Anywhere in New Zealand, at our cost, for cases of significant value.
Nothing is retained
Keys and phrases are destroyed or returned at the end of the engagement. NDA signed before we start.
FAQ
Recovery scams - what people ask
I already paid a recovery service and they want more money. What now?
Stop paying. The escalating request is the scam's core mechanic - each payment unlocks a new obstacle requiring another payment. Report it to Netsafe and to NZ Police on 105 if there has been a financial loss, and keep every message, receipt and wallet address. Those records are what any subsequent tracing work depends on.
Can anyone actually recover stolen crypto?
Recovering a wallet you own is a technical problem and often solvable. Recovering funds an attacker has taken is a different discipline - tracing, and then legal or law enforcement action against whoever holds them. That work is real, but it is slow, it depends heavily on where the funds went, and no one can promise an outcome.
Why do so many of these scams exist?
Because the victim pool is pre-qualified and motivated. Someone who has just lost money is easier to reach and more willing to take a risk on a second chance. Details of losses circulate, which is why the approach so often comes to you.
How do I check a company is real?
Look up the business registration. Search the individual names and see whether they existed professionally before this website did. Check how long the domain has been registered. Ask for a video call. A real firm passes all of these without hesitation.
You're a recovery service telling me not to trust recovery services. Why should I trust you?
Don't - verify instead. Run every check on this page against us. We are a registered New Zealand business, our people are named and searchable with a history in this field, we charge nothing unless we succeed, and we will never ask for your recovery phrase through this website. If we fail any of those tests, do not hire us.