Last updated: October 6, 2026
These terms apply to Financial Recovery engagements with Countervail LLC. By submitting a Financial Recovery Intake or engaging us for financial recovery services, you agree to these terms and to our Services Agreement & Terms. Where the two conflict, these terms govern financial recovery services.
1. What financial recovery services include
Financial recovery services are licensed private investigations into financially motivated crime, including investment and cryptocurrency investment fraud, romance and relationship scams, government, bank, and tech-support impersonation, business email compromise and invoice fraud, account takeover and unauthorized transfers, extortion payments, and cryptocurrency theft. Depending on the facts and the scope you approve, our work may include:
- Reconstructing how the crime unfolded and preserving the evidence
- Preparing and supporting the filing of criminal reports with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), local law enforcement, and other appropriate agencies
- Tracing funds through financial institutions and payment platforms, and tracing cryptocurrency, including Bitcoin, across the blockchain to the exchanges and services where it lands
- Investigating those responsible and, where the evidence supports it, attributing the crime to specific persons, groups, or infrastructure
- Identifying where a financial institution, exchange, or platform may have failed to meet its regulatory or compliance obligations
- A documented findings report for law enforcement, your financial institution, and your attorney, and coordination with law enforcement
2. No guarantee of recovery
We do not guarantee the recovery of any money, cryptocurrency, or other assets. Recovery depends on factors outside our control, including how quickly the loss was reported, where the funds went, whether an institution or exchange freezes or returns them, and whether law enforcement or a court acts. We also do not guarantee attribution, arrest, prosecution, or any particular response from a bank, exchange, platform, or agency. Our findings have supported successful recoveries for clients, but past results do not predict future outcomes.
3. Attribution and regulatory findings
Attribution and findings about regulatory or compliance failures are investigative conclusions based on the evidence available to us. We separate confirmed fact from inference and state our confidence in each finding. They are not legal determinations: whether a crime will be charged is decided by law enforcement and prosecutors, and whether an institution is liable to you is a legal question for your attorney, a regulator, or a court.
4. How we protect you
- We will never ask for your seed phrase, recovery phrase, private keys, passwords, or remote access to your devices.
- We never accept payment in cryptocurrency, gift cards, or wire transfers to individuals. All payments are made to Countervail LLC through Stripe or an invoice on our letterhead.
- We do not hold, receive, or transfer recovered funds. Any recovered funds are returned to you by the institution, exchange, agency, or court that recovers them.
- Our fees are never a percentage of recovered funds and are never contingent on recovery.
Anyone who contacts you promising to recover your money for an upfront fee, a “tax,” or a “release payment” is very likely running a recovery scam. Please tell us before you pay anyone else.
5. Not legal advice
Countervail is a Washington State licensed private investigation agency, not a law firm, and does not give legal advice. When you need legal advice or representation, including for claims against a financial institution or exchange, we can refer you to a trusted attorney from our network. Any attorney you engage works for you under a separate agreement, and Countervail is not responsible for that attorney’s advice or services.
6. Fees
Submitting a Financial Recovery Intake is free. Fraud & Scam Recovery is a flat fee of $1,500, paid through Stripe before work begins, either at the start or after we review your intake. The scope is confirmed in a written engagement agreement, and work outside that scope is quoted in writing before it begins. If we decline your case before work begins, we refund the fee in full. Because work begins promptly, the fee is non-refundable once work has begun, except as stated in your engagement agreement. Clients who previously purchased a Digital Exposure Review receive a $200 credit toward the fee.
Countervail Watch members. Fraud & Scam Recovery is included at no charge for members targeted by fraud, a scam, or cybercrime that begins after their membership start date, provided the membership is active when the incident is reported. Included services follow the scope and limitations of these terms; work outside that scope is quoted in writing before it begins. Incidents that began before the membership started are not included and may be engaged at the standard fee. Countervail Watch for Business subscribers receive response for the organization as described in their subscription agreement and our Services Agreement & Terms.
7. Your responsibilities and authorizations
You confirm that you are the victim or are legally authorized to act for the victim, and that the information you provide is accurate and complete to the best of your knowledge. Please preserve all evidence, avoid deleting messages or accounts, and tell us about any other investigator, recovery service, attorney, or agency involved. We may ask you to sign authorizations so we can communicate with financial institutions, exchanges, platforms, or law enforcement on your behalf, and we act only within the authority you give us. Our work is used only for lawful purposes and never to locate, monitor, or harass anyone.
8. Confidentiality and evidence
We treat your information and our findings as confidential and handle evidence so it remains usable by law enforcement, financial institutions, and attorneys. We share information with law enforcement, institutions, or other parties only with your consent or where the law requires it. Our Privacy & Data Handling policy also applies.
9. Ending an engagement
Either party may end an engagement in writing at any time. Fees for work performed before the engagement ends remain due. We may decline or end an engagement if we determine it cannot be performed lawfully or ethically, if it would put anyone at risk, or if the information provided is materially inaccurate.
Countervail LLC · Veteran-owned, Washington State licensed, bonded & insured private investigation agency · PI License #26010541 · Agency License #DOR00035092 · UBI 606107463 · Questions: contact@countervailintelligence.com