DateableMyth: your bank will refund money lost to a scam
Banks often cannot recover money you have paid to a scammer. Crypto losses are rarely recovered, and with a fake cheque you repay the bank.
Your bank will often not recover money you have paid to a scammer. It may not recover money at all. The reason is the way the payment left your account and where it went. With crypto or a fake cheque, the loss is yours entirely.
Why banks do not always refund scam losses
When you transfer money from your account, the bank has sent it to another account. It is now in someone else's hands. Most of the money that leaves in a wire transfer or a transfer app does not come back.
This is especially true if the money went to an account in another country. Your bank may be able to freeze it before it leaves your account: if you call straight away and say the transfer is fraudulent, the bank can stop a pending payment or block access to an account that has been used to take your money. But once the money is gone, the bank has little power to recover it, even though the scammer stole it 1.
Crypto: the money is gone
Crypto losses are rarely recovered 2. When you send someone crypto, the transaction is permanent and irreversible. There is no intermediary like a bank that can reverse it, no chargeback system, no fraud team. The money belongs to whoever holds the key now.
If someone you met online asked you to send them crypto, or to invest your money in crypto, assume the money is gone. Do not wait for the scammer to give you a chance to withdraw it. Contact your bank and IDCARE, and report the account to the platform and to Scamwatch, but do not expect to see the money again 2.
The fake cheque trap
In a fake cheque scam, someone sends you a cheque for more than they owe, then asks you to send them some of the money back. The bank deposits the cheque and the money shows up in your account. But the cheque is fake, and banks are required by law to show the money quickly even though they have not verified it yet 3.
Here is what happens next. You send the scammer the money back in gift cards, a wire transfer, or crypto. Days or weeks later, the cheque is discovered to be fake and bounces. The bank takes the money back out of your account 3. You now owe the bank the full amount of the fake cheque, plus any fees. The scammer is gone and has the money you sent them.
You receive a cheque for $5,000 from someone who owes you $1,000. The bank shows the money in your account the next day. You send them $4,000 via wire transfer. Two weeks later the cheque is discovered to be fake. Your bank debits your account $5,000 and charges you a fee. You have lost $4,000 to the scammer and owe the bank $5,000.
Never send money back from a cheque you have received, no matter how fast the bank lets you see it 3.
What your bank can actually do
Your bank can stop a payment that is still pending. If you realise within minutes or hours that you have made a transfer to a scammer, call your bank straight away and tell them the transfer is fraudulent. They may be able to cancel it before it leaves your account or the destination account.
Your bank can also block or freeze accounts that have been used to steal from you. If money has already left your account to a scammer's account, the bank can work with other banks to freeze that account so the scammer cannot move the money further 1. This does not recover your money, but it may prevent the scammer from using that stolen money to hurt someone else.
Why speed matters
You have the best chance of stopping the loss if you call your bank within minutes of realising you have been scammed. Hours matter. The longer you wait, the more likely the scammer has already moved the money on.
Your bank cannot recover money that is already gone. Speed gives them the only chance they have to stop it in the process.
The only protection that actually works
The only reliable way to avoid losing money to a scammer is to not send money to anyone you have not met in person. If someone you met only online asks you to send them money, a gift card, or crypto, or to invest for them, it is a scam.
This applies to people who ask you to send money for an emergency, to help them buy a plane ticket, to cover business expenses, to invest in a cryptocurrency or property scheme, or to pay a fee to "release" money that is stuck in an account. These are the most common scam patterns. Your bank, the police and Scamwatch have seen them thousands of times 2.
On Dateable, you meet genuine people who are being clear about what they want from the start. If money comes up, it comes up in the arrangement you agree to and in person. No one worth meeting asks for money over a chat before you have met, and they do not ask for crypto, gift cards or cash transfers.
If you have sent money to someone you met online and suspect you have been scammed, stop replying to them and report the profile. Then follow the steps in the guide for what to do next, including contacting your bank, IDCARE and Scamwatch. Keep records of every message and transaction, because they will ask. And for the future, keep your money and records safe by not transferring anything to someone you have not met in person.
Sources
- WA ScamNet (Government of Western Australia, Consumer Protection) (2026). Sugar baby scam.
- Scamwatch (ACCC) (2026). Investment scams.
- Federal Trade Commission (2025). How To Spot, Avoid, and Report Fake Check Scams.
