r/ScamsUK

i was scammed out of £2,500 this week by someone impersonating monzo and wanted to see if anyone has experienced something similar and what the outcome was.
i received an unexpected call from someone claiming to work for monzo fraud. he already knew personal information about me including my name, email and home address. during the call he sent me emails containing what appeared to be genuine monzo case/reference information and also directed me to fscs information to convince me he was legitimate.
he told me there were fraudulent/pre-authorised payments on my account and that i needed to make payments to reverse/override them. i believed i was following instructions from monzo and made two payments through links he sent me using apple pay, totalling £2,500.
to be clear, i personally authorised the apple pay payments, but i did so because i had been deceived about their purpose and believed they were part of reversing the supposed fraudulent payments.
i realised shortly afterwards that it was a scam and reported it to monzo immediately while the payments were still pending. i’ve also reported it to report fraud and contacted the payment processor, and i’ve kept the emails, call records, whatsapp evidence, payment links and screenshots.
monzo’s fraud investigation is still ongoing.

i’m not looking to be told off here im just looking for other’s experiences in this situation

I’m looking for some advice because I’m honestly not sure what I should be doing next. I’m a UK resident and over the period of roughly September 2025 to September 2026, I transferred approximately £460,000 to someone I met online. I was told the money was being provided as loans and that it would be repaid. There are extensive messages, bank transfers, emails and other evidence documenting the payments and the reasons I was given for needing the money. There are also messages relating to repayment and statements that I believe are potentially relevant to the police investigation. The situation has now escalated because the person has apparently left the UK and is currently in Los Angeles, California. I am still in contact with them by SMS/iMessage and they don't appear to know that I have reported the matter to UK law enforcement. They are also still active on social media. I have now:

• Reported the matter to UK police/fraud authorities.
• Submitted a report to the FBI's IC3 system.
• Preserved the messages, bank records, screenshots, emails and other evidence.
• Given the UK police a chronology and supporting evidence.
• Told the police that the person is believed to now be in the US.

I'm trying to understand what I should realistically do now, rather than making the situation worse. A few questions I'd really appreciate advice on:

1. Should I simply maintain contact and preserve any further messages/evidence, or should I stop communicating with them?
2. Is there anything else I should report to US law enforcement given that the person is believed to be in California?
3. Should I be speaking to a UK solicitor immediately about civil recovery, even though the person is now abroad?
4. If the police decide to investigate, how does something involving a UK victim and someone currently in the US normally progress?
5. Is there anything particularly important I should be doing now to preserve evidence or improve the chances of recovering the money?

I'm not looking for anyone to identify or contact this person. I'm mainly looking for practical advice from people who have dealt with international fraud, UK/US law enforcement, civil recovery, or similar situations. I realise Reddit isn't a substitute for legal advice, but given the amount involved and the fact that the person is now apparently overseas, I'd really appreciate any guidance on what the sensible next steps are.

I've recently complained about a couple of items by posting on a company's X page. Very soon after I get a message from 'customer services' saying that they're very sorry and can I message them directly. I send a DM and they are ridiculously helpful and want to call on the phone. They say they'll send me a replacement because I am a valued customer - this seems completely OTT and I end the call.

I then realise it's not a legit customer services account, rather just one with e.g. *shop name*supportuk.

What's the end game here? Would it have been 'we need a small deposit'?

I posted on a very legit looking ‘Official Vinted UK Customer Support Group’ with over 32000 followers about an issue I had with an uncollected (after 32 days) item. I was simply asking if anyone had had a similar problem, not asking for refund or anything. As part of the post approval, I had to leave my phone number and email address. Within minutes I got a phone call from a UK mobile after receiving an email saying to expect a mobile call as their phone lines were down. Thought it was a bit odd but despite red flags, I ended up being scammed for almost 200.00. The details aren’t relevant but what is clear that there is someone part of the group admin who has used my contact details which were only visible to admin and mods to scam me or has passed my details onto someone else to do so. Luckily I was able to contact my bank straight away and I’ve been refunded.