Criminal, civil, or regulatory
A criminal fraud case is brought by a prosecutor, a district attorney in state court or a U.S. Attorney's Office in federal court, and can lead to a conviction, restitution, and forfeiture. A civil fraud case is a lawsuit between private parties seeking money or to undo a transaction, and it uses a different standard of proof. Regulatory cases are brought by agencies such as the SEC, the Federal Trade Commission, or state regulators and can lead to penalties, industry bans, or license consequences. The same events can produce all three, and evidence gathered in one often ends up in another. Knowing which are open, or likely, is the starting point for every other decision.
If you lost money
Victims often hope a police report will bring their money back. Prosecutors can seek restitution, but criminal cases move on their own schedule and focus on the conduct rather than on each victim's recovery. A civil claim, a claim against a bank or platform, an insurance claim, or an arbitration may be a more direct route, and several can be pursued together. Contact your bank right away if money was transferred, preserve every message and record, and be wary of anyone offering to recover funds for an upfront fee. Some routes, such as disputes under account agreements and card network rules, have short notice windows.
If you are accused
If you have been accused of fraud, or a business partner has threatened to go to the police, avoid trying to settle it informally with the accuser or explaining yourself in writing before getting advice. A civil lawsuit can run alongside a criminal investigation, and what you say in a deposition or a letter can be used in the criminal case. Preserve your records rather than cleaning them up, since deleting files can become a separate problem. At the outset we map which proceedings exist or are likely, the order in which they should be addressed, and which records will tell your side of the story.
