How to report an online scam in England

Keep the evidence. Protect your money. Then make the right report.

The answer in 2 lines. If money has left your account, contact your bank immediately using its app or the number on your card. Save messages, payment references and website addresses. In England, use Report Fraud: choose the crime reporting option if you have suffered fraud or cybercrime. For suspicious messages you have not acted on, use the suspicious activity option. Forward phishing emails to report@phishing.gov.uk and suspicious texts to 7726. Reporting a message does not start a bank refund claim.

Start here

Protect your money: tell your bank what happened, how you paid and whether you shared security details. Ask what can be stopped or recovered.
Keep the evidence: save messages, receipts, account details, website addresses and screenshots before blocking the sender.
Choose your reporting route: open Report Fraud and select suspicious activity or fraud and cybercrime according to what happened.

Stop: danger

Threatened or physically unsafe? Call 999. See Citizens Advice’s police guidance for situations needing immediate police contact.
Someone asks for another payment to release a refund: stop communicating and verify the claim independently. Do not give them passwords or authorisation codes.

Where to send suspicious messages

Use the GOV.UK reporting guide to choose the correct channel:

Email: forward the original to report@phishing.gov.uk. Do not open attachments to investigate it.
Text: forward it to 7726, free of charge, and follow any reply asking for the sender’s details.
Suspicious website: follow the website reporting link in the guide and provide its address. Copy the address from the message rather than visiting the site.

These reports help identify and disrupt scams. You do not need to establish who the criminal is before reporting your suspicions.

If you paid, shared details or were hacked

Open the official reporting page and read the descriptions before choosing an option. The suspicious activity route is intended for messages or websites where you have not lost money or responded. Use the fraud and cybercrime route for an incident affecting you; if uncertain, seek guidance through the service.

Write a clear account: what was offered, how contact began, what you supplied and what happened next. Separate facts from guesses. Keep the confirmation and any reference issued. A report can support your correspondence, but does not guarantee an investigation or reimbursement.

What not to do

Waiting for a reporting reference before contacting your bank.
Deleting conversations or payment evidence because you feel embarrassed.
Opening the suspicious link again to collect better screenshots.
Paying someone who contacts you unexpectedly and promises to recover your money.

Prepare a useful evidence folder

Include a short timeline, the names and contact details used, the advert or website address, and copies of your exchanges. Record payment dates, amounts and references from your own statements. Explain whether you authorised the payment or discovered a transaction you did not make.

Keep originals and a record of each organisation contacted. Submit sensitive evidence only through a verified channel. If your email account was accessed, follow the NCSC recovery guide: start with the provider’s official recovery process and secure other accounts using the same password.

Consumer advice and money complaints

For a dishonest seller or misleading commercial practice, use Citizens Advice’s reporting page. Follow its online reporting or consumer helpline link and explain the transaction. Relevant information can be passed to Trading Standards.

If you dispute your bank’s handling of an unauthorised payment, complain to it first. The Financial Ombudsman Service guide explains when it can consider your complaint and links to the complaint process. Follow the applicable instructions; reporting fraud alone does not submit that complaint.

Good to know

These steps cover England. Report Fraud’s reporting page also covers Wales and Northern Ireland and directs Scottish cases to Police Scotland.
A suspicious-message report, a crime report and a refund request serve different purposes. Keep their confirmations together.
No overall reporting statistic is needed to decide whether your experience deserves reporting.

Illustrative example: A buyer in Leeds pays for a second-hand console that never arrives. They save the advert, conversation and payment receipt, contact their bank, then use the fraud reporting route. They keep the reference with their bank correspondence and ignore a stranger offering a guaranteed recovery for an upfront fee.

A made-up story, for illustration.

Bobby

Sources, verification, confidence

Verified on 6 November 2026, for England. Confidence: high for reporting channels and immediate protective steps; medium for individual outcomes, which depend on the evidence and payment circumstances. The official reporting service currently identifies itself as Report Fraud.