What we handle

Fraud types, and the first move each one requires

The label matters less than the trail. What actually determines the approach is which rails the money used, how long ago it moved, and whether a regulated intermediary touched it on the way. These are the categories our case teams are organised around.

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Most common

Fake investment and trading platforms

A professional-looking broker, trading terminal or fund site shows a rising balance that does not exist. Deposits are encouraged; withdrawals stall behind fees, taxes or verification demands that never end.

Warning signs

A dashboard showing profits that cannot be withdrawn.
New fees, taxes or "compliance releases" demanded before any payout.
A licence or registration number that belongs to a different company.
An account manager who calls persistently and discourages outside advice.

How we approach it

Payment-rail reconstruction to the receiving institution, formal notice and recall where the window allows, regulatory complaint against any licensed intermediary, and corporate mapping of the operator. These platforms are almost always run at scale, so cross-case matching frequently links a matter to others already on file.

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Traceable more often than expected

Cryptocurrency fraud

Funds sent to a wallet controlled by a fraudster — through a fake exchange, a bogus staking or mining scheme, a cloned wallet application, or a "portfolio manager" who needs a deposit to begin.

Warning signs

Instructions to move coins to an external wallet for "safekeeping" or "activation".
A platform that displays a balance but blocks every withdrawal attempt.
Guaranteed or fixed daily returns on a crypto deposit.
A wallet application installed from a link rather than an official store.

How we approach it

Transaction-graph tracing through hop chains, bridges and mixing services to identify the regulated exchange where funds surfaced, followed by compliance escalation and, where warranted, a disclosure application. Public ledgers mean crypto cases are often more traceable than bank cases — the difficulty is reaching the point where a legal request has force.

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Highest average loss

Romance and long-contact investment fraud

A relationship built patiently over weeks or months on a dating app, social platform or messaging service, which eventually turns towards an investment opportunity, an emergency, or a platform that must be joined.

Warning signs

A relationship that moves quickly off the original platform into private messaging.
Persistent reasons why meeting in person is impossible.
An investment introduced as a personal favour or shared opportunity.
Small early withdrawals that succeed, followed by much larger deposits that cannot be released.

How we approach it

These matters carry the highest average loss and the greatest personal cost, and they are handled with that in mind. Work runs on two tracks — tracing the funds through the platform that received them, and evidencing the operator behind the persona through infrastructure and payment-processor analysis. There is no judgement here, from anyone on our side.

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Time-critical

Phishing, spoofing and authorised push payment fraud

A transfer authorised by the account holder after a convincing approach: a message or call that appears to come from a bank, a courier, a tax authority or a utility, often with a spoofed number or a near-identical domain.

Warning signs

A call or message urging an immediate transfer to a "safe account".
A caller ID or sender that matches the real institution exactly.
A login page reached from a link rather than typed directly.
Pressure to stay on the line and not to consult anyone.

How we approach it

The most time-critical category we handle. Immediate recall and freeze requests to the receiving institution, escalation under applicable reimbursement and complaint frameworks, and a complaint to the paying bank where its own warning and controls fell short. Hours matter here more than in any other fraud type.

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Corporate

Business email compromise and invoice redirection

A supplier invoice, payroll instruction or completion payment redirected after an email account is compromised or convincingly impersonated. Discovery usually comes when the real supplier chases payment.

Warning signs

Bank details changed by email shortly before a scheduled payment.
A sender domain differing from the genuine one by a single character.
Urgency framed around a deadline, a completion or a director being unreachable.
Reply-to addresses that differ from the visible sender.

How we approach it

Immediate recall through the paying bank, formal notice to the receiving institution, and forensic review of the compromised mailbox to establish the intrusion point. Where the amounts justify it, civil disclosure applications identify the account holder behind the receiving account. Corporate matters are handled with the confidentiality the situation requires.

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Second-wave

Advance-fee and recovery fraud

A payment demanded up front to release something that does not exist: a prize, a loan, an inheritance, a released shipment — or, most cruelly, funds already lost to an earlier fraud.

Warning signs

An unsolicited approach from someone claiming they can recover an earlier loss.
A fee, retainer or "release payment" demanded to a private wallet or personal account.
A false claim of working with, or on behalf of, the police or a regulator.
Documents bearing copied official crests or forged authority letterhead.

How we approach it

Recovery fraud deliberately targets people who have already lost money once, and the second loss is often larger. We treat it as a distinct fraud with its own trail and evidence file. To be unambiguous: Trump Law Group never contacts people out of the blue offering recovery, never acts on behalf of a public authority, and never asks for a payment to a private wallet or personal account.

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High volume

Marketplace, ticketing and goods fraud

Payment for goods, vehicles, rentals, tickets or services that never arrive, taken through a channel deliberately chosen because it carries no buyer protection.

Warning signs

A seller pushing the transaction off-platform to bank transfer or crypto.
A price meaningfully below the market, justified by an urgent personal reason.
A listing copied from elsewhere, with borrowed photographs.
Refusal to allow inspection, escrow or a protected payment method.

How we approach it

Chargeback and dispute routes where card rails were used, recall requests where transfer rails were used, and operator identification where the same infrastructure appears across multiple listings. Individually modest losses often aggregate into a substantial case once matched.

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Bank liability

Account takeover and unauthorised transactions

Transfers or card payments made without authority after credentials, a device or an SMS code were compromised — including SIM-swap attacks and unauthorised remote access.

Warning signs

Mobile service dropping without explanation shortly before transactions appear.
Payments to unrecognised beneficiaries or new devices on the account.
Password or security-detail changes that were not made by the account holder.
A bank declining reimbursement on the basis that the payment was authorised.

How we approach it

Unauthorised transactions engage a different legal framework from authorised ones, and the distinction is frequently applied incorrectly by banks. We evidence the unauthorised nature of the payments, pursue reimbursement under the applicable framework, and escalate to the financial ombudsman or supervisor where a bank refuses without proper basis.

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Not sure which category applies?

It does not matter. Describe what happened in plain language — categorising it correctly is our job, and it takes a case officer a few minutes.

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