Asked to pay a fee or tax before you can withdraw? Stop and check
If a trading or investing platform says you must send more money (a "tax", "withdrawal fee", "verification fee" or "margin top-up") before it will release your balance, regulators say you should treat that as a warning sign, not a step to complete. The same goes for anyone who contacts you offering to recover lost money for an upfront fee.
This guide covers two related patterns that regulators keep warning about: pay-to-withdraw demands and fund-recovery offers. General information, not legal or financial advice. Sources last checked 4 Nov 2026.
Pattern 1: "Pay first, then we release your money"
New Zealand's Financial Markets Authority describes a network of fake online investment platforms where people log in and see "profits" that are fabricated. When they try to withdraw, the platform refuses and asks for further payments to cover "taxes" or "withdrawal fees". The FMA's conclusion is blunt: even if the investor pays the extra money, no funds are released. It says the same about a separate set of fake platforms offering crypto, derivatives or shares, and notes the names change frequently.
The US SEC's Investor.gov calls this advance fee fraud. The payment may be labelled a fee, tax, commission, validation fee or repayment of a margin loan, "but the premise is always the same – you need to give money to get money". It adds that people are often persuaded to pay more to unlock an account than they ever deposited.
The FBI's page on crypto investment fraud describes the same end stage: the account is frozen, a "tax" or "fee" appears, and paying does not recover the funds. It also notes that early small withdrawals are often allowed, to build trust. So "I withdrew before, so it must be real" proves nothing.
Why the "tax" story doesn't hold up
- Fees come out of the balance. If a real charge applied to a withdrawal, the obvious way to collect it is to deduct it from the money being paid out. A demand that you send fresh money first, often to a new account or wallet, is the pattern regulators describe.
- Tax is between you and your tax authority. Be suspicious of any platform that says it must collect your tax before paying you, especially when it names a deadline or a penalty.
Pattern 2: "We can get your money back"
Once money is gone, a second approach often follows. The UK FCA calls these recovery rooms (page last updated 19 Jan 2026). According to the FCA:
- they approach people who have already lost money, usually by cold call, and use pressure;
- they insist on an upfront fee, described as a tax, solicitor or administrative fee, and the losses can end up greater than the first one;
- the people behind the original operation may run the recovery room themselves, or sell victims' details on;
- they may claim to be the FCA, or to work with the government, police or another regulator;
- they often use webmail such as Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail, which the FCA, government, law enforcement and law firms don't use to contact consumers;
- their websites look professional and claim past recoveries that didn't happen.
The FCA adds a useful test: ask the caller how they know about your loss. A fraud report can only be shared between law enforcement agencies, not with a private business offering recovery.
The FMA reports a rise in recovery offers aimed at earlier victims, sometimes claiming the lost investment has "grown" and can now be sold, with fees or levies due first. Investor.gov calls this a "reload": another advance-fee demand aimed at the same person.
What to do instead of paying
1. Stop sending money
Don't pay any further fee, tax or deposit, and don't share card, bank or wallet details or remote-access to your device. The FCA's advice for recovery calls is to end all contact if you're asked for a fee or financial details.
2. Contact your bank or card provider straight away
Tell them what you paid, when and to whom. Keep payment receipts, wallet addresses, screenshots of the platform, chat logs and email headers.
3. Check the platform and anyone who contacts you yourself
Look up the legal entity on the regulator's register using our licence check guide, and confirm the website and contact details belong to that entity with the clone broker check. Search the name or domain on our alerts page, which covers forex and derivatives entries on the French AMF's blacklist. A hit is a stop sign; a miss proves nothing, because no list is complete.
If someone claims to be from a regulator, the police or the FBI, contact that body through the details on its official website, not the ones you were given. The FBI says it will never ask for money, move a conversation to a private messaging app or request bank details.
4. Report it
Report to the regulator in your country (in the UK, the FCA; in New Zealand, the FMA), to your local police and, in the US, to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov. If a regulated firm was impersonated, tell that firm and its regulator too.
5. Expect follow-up contact
Once you've reported a loss or posted about it online, assume more "recovery" offers will arrive. Only use services you found yourself and checked on the regulator's register; the FCA notes that in the UK a firm needs its authorisation to offer claims-management services.
How a legitimate withdrawal usually differs
Every firm has its own process, so read the client agreement. In general, a regulated broker may ask for identity documents and usually pays back to the method you deposited with; it shouldn't ask you to send new money to a different account to release your own. If a withdrawal is stuck, raise a written complaint with the entity named in your agreement and, if it's unresolved, go to that regulator or the complaints scheme the agreement names.
Before you deposit anywhere
Most of this is avoidable with a few minutes of checking up front: the licence, the domain and who receives your money. CFDs also carry a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage, even with a properly licensed firm; read our risk warning and our methodology.
We're an affiliate of one broker; that never changes the register facts we publish. See how we make money.
FAQ
My trading platform says I must pay tax before I can withdraw. Should I pay?
No. The FMA and the SEC both describe extra "tax" or "withdrawal fee" payments as a hallmark of fake platforms, and the FMA says that even when investors pay, no funds are released. Stop paying and contact your bank and the regulator.
Can a company recover money I lost to a fake broker?
Be very wary of anyone who contacts you offering this for an upfront fee. The FCA says recovery rooms often follow the original loss, may be run by the same people, and charge fees described as tax, solicitor or administration costs. Go to your bank, the police and the regulator directly.
Someone says they're from the regulator or the FBI and can release my funds. Is that real?
Treat it as suspect. Contact the agency through its official website. The FBI says it will never ask for money, move conversations to private messaging apps or ask for bank details.