Is that recovery service a scam?
Most "recovery experts" on social media are scammers. Answer 13 questions about the service you found, and I'll score it against the checklist I wish every victim had before they paid anyone.
The checklist, explained
1. Did they contact you first?
A legitimate recovery service waits for you to write to it. I never DM, cold-email, comment on your post, or reach out unprompted, on any platform, ever. Anyone offering to recover your crypto who found you, whether in a Telegram DM, an Instagram reply, or a "hacker" recommended in a comment thread, is running a scam. See my own scam warning page for the impersonators who use this exact pattern against my own name.
2. Astroturf vouching in comments or reviews
If you lost crypto and posted about it, you're now a target. Within hours, replies show up from "someone this happened to too," conveniently naming an expert with a handle. Some of those accounts are run by the same operation as the "expert." A real referral comes from someone you know, not a stranger's comment with a contact link attached.
3. Payment before work begins
Legitimate recovery is paid on success, because the whole value proposition is "we get your crypto back or you owe nothing." Any upfront charge, whatever it's called (fee, tools, gas, activation, licensing, retainer) inverts that: you pay first and hope. Once you've paid, there's no leverage left to make them finish the job.
4. Guaranteed success or a 100% rate
Nobody can guarantee a technical outcome they haven't attempted yet. Some cases really are unrecoverable, and I say so, for free, before anyone signs anything. A service that promises certainty is selling you confidence it can't back up, and confidence is exactly what a scam needs you to feel.
5. Claims of recovering already-stolen coins
Once a transaction confirms on the blockchain, it's final. Nobody, not me, not a "government-grade hacking team," not anyone, can reverse it or claw funds back from a thief's address. Anyone who claims otherwise is running a second scam on someone who already lost money once. I wrote the full explanation of why this is impossible for exactly this reason.
6. A named, verifiable person
A real recovery service has a real person attached to it, with a history that predates your case: press coverage, talks, a LinkedIn profile older than a year. That's not vanity, it's accountability: a named person has a reputation to lose. Read who I am and verify it independently rather than taking my word for it.
7. A registered legal entity
A government business registry entry costs money and creates a paper trail; scammers avoid both. If a service won't name a legal entity and jurisdiction you can look up yourself, there's nothing to hold accountable if things go wrong, and nowhere to file a complaint.
8. Published pricing
Pricing set before a service hears your story is a fixed policy. Pricing that only appears after you've described your case, in a DM, is a number sized to what they think you can pay. One of these is a business model; the other is a negotiation against you.
9. A written contract you could actually enforce
A contract under a jurisdiction where you could realistically sue is what turns "trust me" into an obligation with consequences. No contract, or one under a jurisdiction you have no practical access to, leaves you with nothing if the service takes your money and disappears.
10. Independent reviews, not just on-site testimonials
Anyone can put glowing quotes on their own homepage; it costs nothing and proves nothing. Years of reviews on a platform the business doesn't control (Trustpilot, the BBB) are much harder to fake and much easier to verify. Check both my own verification methods and my reviews the same way you'd check anyone else's.
11. Being asked for your seed phrase or keys early
A legitimate service starts from what you already have: a wallet file, a public address, a partial password or seed, and explains a trustless option where one exists so your keys never have to change hands before there's a signed contract and a real reason. Anyone asking for your full seed phrase "to verify your wallet" before any of that is asking you to hand over your coins.
12. Messaging apps or free email as the only channel
A phone number, a company email address, and a physical location are all things a real business keeps stable over years. Telegram, WhatsApp, and a fresh @gmail address are the opposite: built to be abandoned the moment a scam is reported.
13. Manufactured urgency
"Act in 24 hours or your funds are lost forever" is a pressure tactic, not a technical reality. Real recovery timelines are set by the work itself: how a password is being brute-forced, how a wallet file needs to be repaired. A deadline imposed before you've even finished describing your situation exists to stop you from checking any of the other 12 items on this list.
How I score on my own checklist
Run anyone through this checklist, including me. Here's how WalletRecovery.info answers each of the 13 questions, with the proof:
| Question | My answer |
|---|---|
| 1. Contacted you first? | No. I only reply to people who write to me. Verify |
| 2. Astroturf vouching? | No. reviews live on Trustpilot, not planted in comment sections. Verify |
| 3. Payment before work? | No. no upfront fee, ever. Verify |
| 4. Guaranteed success? | No. "not recoverable" is a real answer I give for free. Verify |
| 5. Recover already-stolen coins? | No. that's impossible, and I say so. Verify |
| 6. Named, verifiable person? | Yes. David Veksler, in Bitcoin since 2013. Verify |
| 7. Registered legal entity? | Yes. Veksler Consulting LLC, Colorado ID #20218030311. Verify |
| 8. Published pricing? | Yes. posted on the homepage. Verify |
| 9. Enforceable written contract? | Yes. Colorado, USA. Verify |
| 10. Independent reviews? | Yes. Trustpilot and press, not just on-site quotes. Verify |
| 11. Seed phrase/keys asked early? | No. never before a signed contract, and never required at all if a trustless option exists. Verify |
| 12. Only messaging app or free email? | No. published phone, Signal, and a company email address. Verify |
| 13. Pressures urgency? | No. the free assessment isn't timed, and never will be. |
No checklist can certify honesty by itself. Confirm the identity and the contract yourself, for me and for anyone else, before you send anything.
FAQ
Can any service recover stolen crypto?
No. Once a transaction confirms on the blockchain, it's final; nobody can reverse it, including me. Anyone who offers to "hack it back" or negotiate with the thief is running a second scam on someone who already lost money once. Here's the full explanation.
What does a legitimate recovery service cost?
A success fee, typically somewhere in the 15% to 20% range of what's recovered, agreed in writing before any work begins. A legitimate service is never paid upfront, and never paid before your funds are actually back in a wallet you control.
Are there other legitimate recovery services besides you?
Yes, a small number. This checklist is exactly how you tell them apart from the much larger number that aren't. Run any service through it, including this one.
What if I already paid a scammer?
Stop contact and don't send anything else, no matter what they claim you owe next. Report it to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center and the FTC. Expect a follow-up "recovery of your recovery fee" offer targeting the same victims a second time; treat it the same way you'd treat the first scam.
Why does "not sure" count against a service?
Because the honest signals here (a real name, a registered entity, published pricing) are things a legitimate service can always produce quickly. If you can't find the answer, that's information on its own: legitimate operators don't hide it.