If you are reading this page after losing money, let us begin with a sentence that has practical value: investment fraud is engineered by professionals so that it works on reasonable people. The fake exchange has a real dashboard with live charts, the account manager calls exactly on time, the first withdrawal arrives promptly, because it is part of the mechanism. What makes these schemes effective is not the victim’s naivety but their engineering. Understanding this allows you to move from shame to action, and action has deadlines.
First Steps After Discovering the Fraud
Three things lose value with every passing day.
First, documentation
screenshots of trading panels, correspondence, transfer confirmations, cryptocurrency wallet addresses, account numbers; fraudulent platforms vanish, and the evidence vanishes with them.
Second, the bank
a request to halt or recall the transfer and the formal complaint procedure; with international transfers, hours matter.
Third, the notification of a suspected offense, a criminal complaint to the Polish authorities
carefully prepared, with the material organized, it helps the authorities secure evidence quickly and assess the case. It does not determine the course of the proceedings, but it saves weeks that matter in these cases.
What Criminal Proceedings Can Actually Deliver
Under Polish law, schemes of this kind are typically prosecuted as fraud under Article 286 of the Criminal Code. Victim status is not a formality but the position of a party to the pretrial proceedings, with a bundle of rights attached: access to the case file, evidentiary motions, an appeal against discontinuation, participation in procedural actions. The scope of these rights is set by the Code of Criminal Procedure, so their real content must be secured through motions rather than assumed. You do not need to live in Poland to hold this status; foreign victims act through counsel, with documents submitted in translation. Upon conviction, the court may impose an obligation to redress the damage under Article 46 of the Criminal Code, and at an earlier stage the prosecutor may freeze the perpetrators’ assets, where the statutory conditions are met and identifiable assets exist.
In parallel, we analyze the civil avenues: from the liability of entities that took part in the scheme or lent it credibility, where an independent legal basis against them exists, to the actio pauliana against assets being siphoned away, where the conditions of Article 527 et seq. of the Civil Code are satisfied.
We do not guarantee recovery; the rules of professional ethics forbid such guarantees, and the outcome depends on identifying the perpetrators, securing assets and the course of the proceedings. We build the legal position from which recovery becomes possible and tell you plainly what the odds are in your case.
If an entity involved in the scheme enters insolvency proceedings, we file the client’s claim: in Polish proceedings, through the National Register of Debtors (Krajowy Rejestr Zadłużonych) within 30 days of the publication of the announcement; in foreign proceedings, in accordance with the law of the state in which the proceedings were opened. We ensure that all relevant deadlines are met.
How we work
In cases of investment fraud, there is no single route to recovering funds. We build the victim’s case in parallel across criminal, civil and insolvency proceedings, in accordance with the time limits that apply separately in each of these proceedings.
First steps
Securing evidence, stopping the transfer, lodging a complaint with the bank – before the fraudsters’ website disappears.
Reporting a crime
Prepared using well-organised material, which streamlines the process for the authority to secure evidence.
Victim status
The party’s actual rights: access to the case file, requests for evidence, and challenging a decision to discontinue proceedings.
Compensation for damage
An application under Article 46 of the Criminal Code and the freezing of the identified assets of the offenders.
Civil avenues
Liability of entities certifying the scheme; a fraudulent conveyance claim against transferred assets.
Filing of claims
Filing a claim in insolvency proceedings: in Poland, through the National Register of Debtors (Krajowy Rejestr Zadłużonych); abroad, in accordance with the applicable local procedure. We ensure that all relevant deadlines are met.
A Warning
The Second Wave of Fraud
After every publicized case, the victims are approached by “asset recovery firms”, international “law offices” and supposed officials. Exercise particular caution when someone demands a fee for the mere “unblocking” of money that is supposedly already waiting, applies time pressure, or expects a transfer before presenting a contract and a verifiable basis for acting. Contact through a messaging app or from a foreign number proves nothing by itself, but it always calls for independent verification: before you pay anyone, check the entity in professional and public registers. The difference is simple: an honest lawyer charges a fee for defined work under a contract, not a charge for access to funds that are allegedly waiting to be released.
Cases We Handle
We represent victims in the Zondacrypto case, in which criminal complaints have been filed with the Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Katowice and the victims have organized themselves into an association; the proceedings are pending, and nothing in them prejudges anyone’s liability. For nearly twenty years we have been conducting the WGI brokerage house case, now at the appellate stage (case no. XII K 152/22), which shows that proceedings of this kind can take years and that we see them through. Signals concerning new schemes are published in our Public Warnings service (in Polish).
The firm handles cases of this kind: contact us.
Information current as at July 29, 2026.
Contact
We do not promise that you will get your money back, as we cannot guarantee a specific outcome. We charge a fee for specific tasks that strengthen the claimant’s case. We operate on the basis of a contract, and before you sign it, we will be frank about the prospects of your case. Describe your case, and we will outline the steps that make sense to take.
