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cftrace
cftrace will never ask you to pay upfront via messaging apps or crypto. • We only contact you from verified @cftrace.com and @cf-trace.com email addresses. • We never demand a payment. Only a fully refundable recovery deposit may be required. • Your recovered assets stay under your name until released to your wallet. • Scammers impersonate recovery firms so book calls only through this website. • Need proof? Read our case results and verified client testimonials. • All meetings are recorded and case files are encrypted end-to-end.cftrace will never ask you to pay upfront via messaging apps or crypto. • We only contact you from verified @cftrace.com and @cf-trace.com email addresses. • We never demand a payment. Only a fully refundable recovery deposit may be required. • Your recovered assets stay under your name until released to your wallet. • Scammers impersonate recovery firms so book calls only through this website. • Need proof? Read our case results and verified client testimonials. • All meetings are recorded and case files are encrypted end-to-end.
Glossary

Every term you will hear, in plain English.

Recovery work is full of language designed for lawyers and compliance officers. You should not have to nod along. Here is what each term actually means, and why it matters to your case.

Written and reviewed by the cftrace Compliance & Verification deskTRACE AI INVESTIGATIONS LTD · company no. 16828440Last reviewed 17 August 2026
Legal
Mareva injunction (freezing order)
Court order stopping assets from being moved.
A freezing order granted by a court in the UK and other Commonwealth jurisdictions that prevents a respondent from dissipating assets while proceedings run. It binds the respondent personally and, once served, third parties such as banks who are on notice of it.
Legal
Norwich Pharmacal order
Order compelling a third party to disclose who is behind an account.
An order requiring an innocent third party mixed up in wrongdoing — typically a bank, exchange or internet provider — to disclose documents or identify the account holder, so the victim can pursue the right defendant.
Legal
Bankers Trust order
Order tracing funds through bank records.
Used alongside a freezing order to compel a bank to disclose the movement of specific funds through accounts, so a claimant can follow money that has been layered.
Legal
FinCEN 314(b)
US information-sharing between financial institutions.
A provision of the USA PATRIOT Act allowing US financial institutions to share information with each other about suspected money laundering and terrorist financing, under a safe harbour from liability.
Blockchain
Attribution
Linking an address to a real-world service or person.
The process of connecting a blockchain address to an exchange, custodian, payment processor or individual, using clustering, deposit-address patterns and known service tags. Attribution is what makes a freeze request actionable.
Blockchain
Peel chain
Funds moved in a long line of small hops.
A laundering pattern where a large balance is repeatedly split, sending a small amount onward to a cash-out point and the remainder to a new address, over and over, to break simple tracing.
Blockchain
Mixer / tumbler
Service that pools coins to obscure their origin.
A service that pools deposits from many users and returns different coins, breaking the direct on-chain link. Tracing through a mixer relies on timing analysis, amount correlation and, in many cases, the fact that mixed funds still have to exit somewhere regulated.
Blockchain
Hosted (custodial) wallet
A wallet an exchange controls on a user's behalf.
If stolen funds reach a hosted wallet, the exchange — not the fraudster — has physical control of the balance. This is the single best outcome for a trace, because a compliance freeze becomes possible.
Blockchain
Chain hop / bridge
Moving value from one blockchain to another.
Converting an asset on one chain into an asset on another via a bridge or an exchange. It complicates tracing but leaves matched records on both sides that can be reconciled.
Compliance
Compliance deposit
Refundable deposit that proves you control the receiving wallet.
A refundable amount paid into a wallet held in your own name, used to verify that you control the address funds will be released to and to satisfy anti money laundering checks before a disbursement. It is not a fee, and it is returned as part of the final disbursement or in full if the case closes without a recovery.
Compliance
Source of funds / source of wealth
Evidence of where your money came from.
Standard anti money laundering checks. Before an institution releases a balance to you, it must be satisfied that the funds being returned are yours and that your own finances are legitimate.
Compliance
KYC (Know Your Customer)
Identity verification carried out by regulated firms.
The identity checks a regulated business performs on its customers. It is why an exchange can often tell who deposited stolen funds — and why they cannot tell you without an order.
Fraud
Advance-fee fraud
Being asked to pay before you can withdraw.
Any scheme where you are told a payment — tax, release fee, insurance, upgrade — must be made before your money can be withdrawn. Recovery-firm impersonation is a common second-round version of this.
Fraud
Pig butchering
Long-term grooming into a fake investment.
A fraud pattern where a relationship is built over weeks or months through a messaging app before the victim is introduced to a fake trading or mining platform showing fabricated profits.
Fraud
Business email compromise
Payment redirected by an intercepted email thread.
An attacker gains access to, or convincingly imitates, an email account in a payment chain and alters the bank details on an invoice so a legitimate payment is routed to them.
Fraud
Recovery-room scam
A second scam aimed at people who were already scammed.
A fraudster contacts a victim claiming to recover their lost funds, then charges upfront fees and disappears. This is why we do not cold-call, do not take upfront fees, and only ever contact clients from verified company addresses.

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