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Crypto scam help in Kansas City: what to do first

By John Alewine, founder of Crypto Guidance (LinkedIn) · Updated

Published ยท Updated

Educational only. Not legal, tax, or investment advice. Crypto Guidance is a trade name of Crypto Boutique LLC.

Crypto scam help in Kansas City: the short answer

If you were just scammed, stop sending anything. That includes any "tax," "release fee," or "verification deposit" the other side says will unlock your money. Write down every wallet address, transaction ID, username and phone number while you still have them. Then report it at ic3.gov, at reportfraud.ftc.gov, and to the Missouri or Kansas Attorney General. Most stolen crypto is not recovered, and anyone who promises to recover it for a fee is the second scam. I am John Alewine. I run Crypto Guidance in Kansas City, and I will sit with you to secure what is left, document what happened, and set up a clean wallet. I do not recover funds, and I will never ask for your seed phrase.

If someone is on the phone with you right now telling you to move money, hang up first and read this second.

Key points

What should I do in the first hour after a crypto scam?

  1. Stop paying. Investment scams end the same way. In the IC3's words, when victims try to withdraw, "they will be charged taxes and fees as a final attempt to exploit money from the victims before the scammers disappear with all the victim funds" (IC3 2025 report, page 12). The fee is the last act of the scam, not the way out of it.
  2. Screenshot, then block. Capture the chats, the platform, the balance screen that shows your "profits," and every contact handle. Then cut contact. Do not argue, negotiate, or try to recover a little.
  3. Write the ledger. Every address you sent to, every transaction ID (the long hash), the exchange or wallet you sent from, the platform or app name and web address, usernames, phone numbers, emails, dates and amounts, and how they first reached you. The IC3 asks for exactly these details and says to include "the full transaction details in your report."
  4. Call your bank if any step touched a bank account or card. The IC3's guidance: "If you discover a fraudulent transfer, time is of the essence. Immediately, contact your financial institution and request a recall of the funds along with any necessary indemnification documents." Wires and ACH transfers are where freezes still happen.
  5. Report it inside the exchange app. If the crypto left Coinbase, Kraken or another exchange account, use the help or support link inside the app or on the exchange's own site. Never call a support number from a text, a search result, or a social media reply. Fake support lines are their own scam.
  6. If a wallet was drained, treat the seed as burned. A drained wallet means someone has your keys or an approval you signed. Set up a new wallet with a new seed phrase, move whatever is left, and revoke old token approvals. The free pages on wallet drainers, token approvals and Revoke.cash walk through it.
  7. File the reports in the next section, whatever the amount. The IC3 says it plainly: "Regardless of the amount lost, file a complaint at www.ic3.gov."
  8. Tell one person you trust. Scammers depend on silence. The Missouri Attorney General lists "You are told not to tell anyone" among the red flags of these schemes.

Where do I report a crypto scam in Kansas City?

File with all of these that apply. Each one feeds a different system, and none of them charge you.

Who What they do with it How to reach them
FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) National intake for internet crime. Complaints feed investigations and the Recovery Asset Team's bank freeze requests. ic3.gov
Federal Trade Commission Fraud reports shared with law enforcement nationwide. reportfraud.ftc.gov
Missouri Attorney General, Consumer Protection Takes complaints, mediates with businesses, and has sued a crypto kiosk operator over scam transactions. Hotline 1-800-392-8222. app.ago.mo.gov (form page: ago.mo.gov)
Kansas Attorney General, Consumer Protection Takes complaints and scam reports. Phone (800) 432-3699, email [email protected], online at ag.ks.gov, as the office told WIBW in March 2026. wibw.com
Your local police department A report number helps with your bank, the exchange and insurers. Use the non-emergency line. Your city's police department
FBI Kansas City Field Office Covers Kansas and western Missouri. Tips go to tips.fbi.gov; crypto complaints still go to ic3.gov. fbi.gov
The exchange or kiosk operator Can sometimes freeze funds that landed in an account they control, if you report quickly with the address and transaction ID. Kiosk operators need the receipt. In-app support or the number printed on the kiosk receipt

Can stolen crypto be recovered?

Usually no, and I would rather tell you that now than after someone charges you to find out. A transfer on Bitcoin, Ethereum or Solana has no bank in the middle to reverse it. Once it confirms, the coins belong to whoever holds the receiving key.

Three things sometimes work:

What never works: paying a stranger to "trace and recover" the coins. The next section is about that.

How do I spot a crypto recovery scam?

The recovery scam is the scam that finds you after the first one. The IC3 counted 10,516 recovery scam complaints and $1.4 billion in losses in 2025, and noted an "increase in complaints reporting impersonation of government officials and recovery firms" (IC3 2025 report, page 53). The 60 and over group alone reported $540,505,980 of that.

The FBI described the pattern in August 2023: the companies "charge an up-front fee," then either stop communicating or produce "an incomplete or inaccurate tracing report" and ask for more money, and they "claim affiliation with law enforcement or legal services to appear legitimate" (ic3.gov). In June 2024 the FBI added the fake law firm version: firms that say your case was referred by the FBI or the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, ask for banking details to "verify" you, take part of the fee up front, and then demand "back taxes." Victims of that version reported over $9.9 million lost between February 2023 and February 2024 (ic3.gov).

Red flags, in plain words:

My rule for clients: if the helper found you instead of you finding them, it is the second scam.

How common is this in Missouri and Kansas?

The FBI's 2025 numbers, released in 2026 (ic3.gov):

Measure 2025 figure
All internet crime complaints, nationwide 1,008,597 complaints, $20.877 billion in losses
Complaints involving cryptocurrency 181,565 complaints, $11.366 billion, up 22 percent from 2024
Crypto investment fraud 61,559 complaints, $7.228 billion
Complainants aged 60 and over, crypto losses $4,432,224,488
Complainants who lost more than $100,000 in crypto 18,589 people
Missouri, cryptocurrency complaints 2,500 complaints, $108,769,750 in losses
Kansas, cryptocurrency complaints 1,057 complaints, $78,062,429 in losses

Chainalysis counts theft differently (hacks and wallet drains, not investment fraud) and still reached over $3.4 billion stolen from January through early December 2025. Personal wallet compromises alone took $713 million across 158,000 incidents and at least 80,000 victims, and Chainalysis says "the true number of compromises is likely far greater" (chainalysis.com, December 18, 2025).

What if the scam used a Bitcoin ATM?

Crypto kiosks are the payment rail for a lot of imposter scams: the "IRS," the "sheriff," or "Amazon security" tells you to withdraw cash and feed it into a machine. The IC3 logged 13,460 kiosk complaints and $389 million in losses in 2025, a 58 percent increase in losses from 2024. People 60 and over filed 6,188 of those complaints and lost $257,466,130 (IC3 2025 report, page 53).

Missouri's Attorney General sued the kiosk operator CoinFlip on May 20, 2026, saying the company knowingly facilitates fraudulent transactions and profits from them, and citing 350 crypto cases over the past two years that involved a cryptocurrency ATM, per the Missouri Information Analysis Center and the St. Louis Fusion Center. The release lists the red flags, including an unexpected call about "a law enforcement matter," a demand to "pay immediately to avoid arrest," and being "directed to withdraw or bring cash and deposit it into a cryptocurrency ATM" (ago.mo.gov).

If a kiosk was involved: keep the paper receipt, it carries the destination address and the transaction. Photograph the machine and its operator label. Report to the operator's number on the receipt, to the Attorney General for your state, and to the IC3. The free pages on what a Bitcoin ATM is and why kiosks are not an on-ramp explain the fees and the pattern.

What can Crypto Guidance do, and what will I not do?

What a session covers after a scam:

Sessions are one on one, by phone, on video, or in person in Kansas City when that is practical. Consulting is paid per session; the fixed-price Secure Your Stack review is $997 and includes a written setup audit plus one 60 to 90 minute session. Prices are on the consulting page. If a free page already answers your question, I will point you there instead of billing you to read it aloud.

What I will not do:

Call or text (816) 631-2604, or email [email protected]. Say what happened in a sentence or two. If a session is the right next step, we will set a time.

How do I keep it from happening again?

Who this is not for

Anyone looking for someone to trace and get back stolen coins for a fee. I do not do recovery work, and anyone who promises it should be treated as the next scam. Also not a fit: anyone who wants me to hold keys, pick coins, or move money for them.

Frequently asked questions

Should I pay the fee they say will release my money?

No. The fee is the last stage of the scam. The FBI's 2025 report describes victims being "charged taxes and fees as a final attempt to exploit money from the victims before the scammers disappear." No legitimate platform charges a tax before you can withdraw your own money.

Will the police or the FBI get my money back?

Usually not. Reporting still matters: the IC3 Recovery Asset Team froze $679 million of $1.16 billion in attempted theft in 2025, mostly bank transfers, and reports help investigators connect cases. Report anyway, with the full transaction details, and keep your expectations low.

Someone on Telegram says they are a blockchain analyst who can recover my funds. Is that real?

No. This is the recovery scam the FBI has warned about since 2023: an up-front fee, a vague or fake tracing report, and claims of ties to law enforcement or a law firm. Victims reported $1.4 billion lost to recovery scams in 2025. Block and report.

Should I tell my bank if the loss was in crypto?

Yes, if any step touched a bank account, card or wire. Recalls on wires and ACH transfers are time sensitive. Tell them exactly what happened and ask what recall and indemnification steps they offer.

My parent was scammed and will not talk about it. Can you help?

Yes. People 60 and over reported $4.43 billion in crypto losses in 2025, more than any other age group. I will sit with them, or with both of you, without judgement, secure what is left, and file the reports. The seed stays in their hands the whole time.

Do you charge to talk about a scam?

The first call or text is to find out what happened. If a page on this site answers it, I point you there for free. If a session is the right next step, consulting is paid per session and the fixed-price review is $997, both listed on the consulting page.

Sources

How I put this together

Every number on this page was read from the source linked next to it on October 30, 2026. Prices are the published prices on this site. I tested every source link on October 30, 2026. Where a source could not be opened, the claim was left out.

What changed in this guide

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