Steps to take after a deposit

If you have already sent money to an 'AI trading bot' offer and now have doubts, act quickly. Keep every receipt and chat, tell the bank or e-wallet provider, and know which regulator or law enforcement unit to approach. No one can promise recovery, but prompt action may help.

Keep every receipt and chat

Gather all evidence: deposit receipts, transaction reference numbers, screenshots of the offer, the promoter's messages, and any promises made. Do not delete anything, even if the promoter asks. These records are needed for any report to a bank, a regulator, or law enforcement.

Organise the records by date and by channel. Note the receiving account or wallet, the amounts, and the dates. If you used GCash or a bank transfer, the provider will have a record, but your own screenshots are also useful. The more complete the record, the better.

Tell the bank or e-wallet provider

Contact the bank or e-wallet provider you used to send the money. Tell them you may have been defrauded, and ask what they can do. They may be able to freeze the receiving account or flag the transaction. Do this quickly, because the longer you wait, the harder it is to trace.

The provider is not responsible for your loss, but they have processes for fraud reports. They may ask for a police report or other documentation. Cooperate fully. The provider may also be able to tell you the name on the receiving account, which is useful for any report.

Report to the securities regulator if an investment was offered

If the offer involved an investment, such as a promise of returns from trading, you can report to the Securities and Exchange Commission's enforcement unit. The SEC takes complaints about unregistered investment offers. Its website has a form for complaints and tips.

The SEC does not recover money, but it can investigate and issue advisories. A report helps protect others. Include all the evidence you have: the offer, the promoter's details, and the payment records. The SEC's role is to enforce securities laws, not to return funds.

Consider reporting to law enforcement

You can report to the Philippine National Police or the National Bureau of Investigation's cybercrime units. They handle online fraud and may be able to trace the recipient. A police report is often required by banks and other agencies. Bring your evidence and be prepared to explain what happened.

The Philippine law on financial account scamming provides penalties for certain acts, but it does not guarantee recovery. Law enforcement can investigate, but the process takes time. Do not pay anyone who promises to recover your money for a fee.

No one can promise recovery

Be wary of anyone who says they can get your money back for a fee. Recovery services often target victims of fraud. No legitimate agency will ask for upfront payment to recover funds. The only parties that can possibly reverse a transaction are the bank or e-wallet provider, and only in limited circumstances.

The most realistic outcome is that the money is gone. That is hard to accept, but it is important to avoid throwing good money after bad. Focus on reporting and protecting others, not on chasing recovery promises.

What the law on financial account scamming does

The Philippine law on financial account scamming criminalises certain acts, such as taking over a financial account or using it to receive stolen money. It gives law enforcement tools to investigate and prosecute. But it does not create a fund to compensate victims.

If you report to law enforcement, they will ask for evidence of the scam. That is why keeping records is crucial. The law's role is to punish offenders, not to return your money. Recovery, if any, would come through other means, such as a bank reversal or a civil case.

What to gather before you contact anyone

After a deposit, the impulse is to act quickly, but a few minutes of gathering evidence makes every later step stronger. Save the full chat history from each platform separately, because a Facebook conversation and a Telegram thread are different records. Export or screenshot the messages in a way that shows the sender's name and the date, not just the text.

Keep the payment confirmation from the bank or e-wallet, including the reference number and the exact amount. Screenshot the receiving account or wallet address from the app before it changes. If the promoter sent a QR code, save the image and note which app displayed it. These pieces together show the money trail better than any single message.

Write down your own timeline in simple sentences: when the pitch started, when you sent money, what the promoter promised. A clear written account helps a bank investigator or a law enforcement officer see the pattern. This is not a formal complaint yet, but it is the raw material for one.

Why the first message to your bank matters

Banks and e-wallet providers in the Philippines have fraud teams that can place temporary holds on accounts under review. The sooner they hear from you, the more options they have. Call the official hotline, do not use a number sent by the promoter, and use the phrase 'unauthorized transaction' if you did not approve the debit.

If you authorized the transfer but now believe the recipient misrepresented the use, say that clearly. The bank's process differs for a disputed authorized transfer than for a stolen credential. Ask what documents they need and whether they can share the receiving bank's contact for a direct request to hold the funds.

Do not expect the bank to reverse the transfer on the same call. Their role is to record the dispute, flag the receiving account, and coordinate with the other institution. The record you create now becomes part of the paper trail if the matter goes to the securities regulator or to law enforcement.

The securities regulator's enforcement unit: what to say

When an investment was offered, the Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement unit is the correct receiver of a complaint, not the central bank. The SEC asks for specific details: the name of the person or company that solicited the investment, the date of each solicitation, and the amount you sent. Use the exact legal name if you have it.

Attach the evidence you gathered: chat exports, payment confirmations, and any document or link the promoter gave you. The SEC's online complaint form works best on a computer, and you can submit more than once if new evidence appears. Keep a copy of the complaint reference number for your own records.

The SEC does not act as your lawyer and does not promise to recover your money. Its role is to investigate possible violations of securities laws and, if warranted, issue advisories or file cases. Your complaint adds to the regulator's picture of a scheme even if your own loss is small.

The difference between a report and a recovery claim

Many people confuse filing a report with starting a refund process. A report to the bank, the SEC, or the police creates a record; it does not automatically move money back. Recovery, if it happens at all, comes from a separate process: a bank chargeback, a civil case, or a criminal restitution order.

A chargeback works only in specific situations, such as an unauthorized card transaction or a failed delivery of goods. A transfer to a personal e-wallet is harder to reverse unless the receiving institution acts quickly. Do not let a promoter convince you that a report number means your money is safe.

Setting expectations honestly helps you avoid a second scam. Some fraudsters pose as recovery agents and ask for an upfront fee to 'trace' your funds. No legitimate regulator or law enforcement agency in the Philippines charges a fee to receive a complaint or to investigate.

Protecting yourself from a follow-up scam

After a deposit to a bot scheme, the promoter often returns with a new message: a withdrawal fee, a tax clearance, a 'verification' deposit. These are attempts to extract more money from someone who already sent funds. The rule is simple: do not send more money to release money you are supposedly owed.

The same caution applies to anyone who contacts you claiming to be from a recovery firm or a government agency. Ask for a written letter on official letterhead, then verify the sender through the agency's public hotline. Do not use the phone number in the message itself.

Block and report any account that demands an upfront payment for recovery. The National Bureau of Investigation and the Securities and Exchange Commission publish warnings about such recovery scams. Keeping your evidence organized also means you can spot when a new message contradicts the old one.

Document what the promoter said before the deposit

A chat that disappears later is not evidence. Before the money moves, save the full conversation with the promoter, including the bot's name, the wallet address or account number given, and every promise made about returns or withdrawals. Screenshots should show the profile or page name, the date, and any voice-message transcript if the app provides one. This is the record the bank, the e-wallet provider, and any regulator will ask for first.

After the deposit, the promoter may delete messages or edit a post in a Facebook group. If the pitch came through a short video, save the video and the caption before it is taken down. If the offer arrived in a Telegram channel, export the chat history while the channel is still open. What feels like a routine step now is often the only way to show later that a specific person or page directed the money to a specific account.

Do not rely on the platform's own chat backup. Some apps let a sender delete a message for everyone, and some groups remove members without notice. Store the screenshots somewhere separate from the app, such as a personal cloud drive or a printed copy. The goal is to capture the exact wording of the pitch, because the wording will be compared with where the money actually went.

Ask the receiving institution to trace the transfer

Once a deposit has been made, the sender's bank or e-wallet provider has a record of the transfer even if the receiving side tries to hide it. Contact the institution through its official hotline or app support and ask for a transaction reference or trace number. State plainly that the deposit was made to an account or wallet tied to an investment offer and that the sender now needs assistance in documenting the transfer. The institution may ask for the exact amount, the date, and the receiving details, so have those ready.

A trace request is not the same as a dispute. It does not reverse the transfer, but it creates an official record that the sender reported the matter. Some institutions can flag the receiving account for review if multiple customers report the same destination. This is more likely when the receiving account is a personal e-wallet number rather than a corporate account. The response from the institution will also show whether the transfer went through a local bank, an e-money issuer, or a remittance agent.

If the receiving institution is a virtual asset service provider on the central bank's list, ask whether the company can freeze the destination wallet or account pending a formal complaint. A listed company is not required to reverse a transaction, but it may have a process for reporting suspicious activity. Keep the institution's reply, including any reference number, because the securities regulator and law enforcement will want to see that the sender tried to act quickly.