How to recover money stolen from a Skrill wallet

In today’s article, here is first-hand experience on how it was possible to recover money stolen from a Skrill wallet. Earlier this year there was a direct encounter with this issue, all stages were completed, and just a week ago everything was successfully resolved and the stolen funds were returned to the Skrill wallet.

It seems this experience could be helpful to anyone in the same situation. Based on the growing number of forum reports, theft of funds from Skrill or, as the payments support team calls them, “unauthorized transactions” surged sharply at the start of this year.

A heads-up: there is a lot of detail here, so if the interest is only in the concrete action plan for this specific case, scroll to the very end of the article.

Theft from a Skrill wallet

So, it all began on a quiet winter evening in early February. There was a login to the email used to register the Skrill account and the following batch of messages from Skrill was found (they came about a minute apart):

enterer>Initially it seemed like some kind of glitch. But after signing in to the payments site account, a very unpleasant picture emerged:

This theft was a shock because a payout to a card was just about to be requested. Judging by the sequence, the perpetrator first tried to link their card, but apparently something didn’t work out.

After that, funds were transferred into the wallet from another wallet (to this day it’s unclear why), and then the entire amount minus a couple of dollars was sent to ***@neteller.com, i.e., a Neteller account.

Steps taken to get a refund

The money was gone, and the next step was to figure out what to do, where to reach out, and whom to contact. Roughly 2 hours had already passed since those transactions were made.

Contacting Skrill about the missing funds

The first priority was to log the report, so a ticket describing the issue was submitted via the form at [https://help.skrill.com/ru/ContactSkrill](https://help.skrill.com/ru/ContactSkrill). It was written in English with full details of the fraudulent transactions: the fraudster’s card number, transaction IDs, amounts, wallet names.

The ticket was sent within an hour of discovering the theft, but knowing how slow written support can be and realizing there might still be a chance to block the operations quickly and recover the funds, a phone call to support was also made.

And there was an unexpected obstacle: Skrill’s phone support works only during daytime. At that point, for a couple of hours there was nobody on the lines at the listed numbers.

It’s interesting whether the fraudster timed the theft from Skrill on purpose, or it was a coincidence that everything happened when support was unavailable.

In short, it wasn’t possible to promptly log the theft by phone. The next day there was an attempt to call again, but it was unrealistic: “Please hold to be connected to an operator, all lines are busy” was heard constantly.

By the way, the support phone for Russia is +7 495 249 5439, or the international number (London) +44 203 308 2520 can be used, then choose the language in the IVR. And wait, wait, wait…

If calling the international number, it’s best to top up Skype and call via Skype, it will be much cheaper.

enterer>
Then, it was learned on some forum that it’s best to call the U.S. number +1 855 719 2087 via Skype. For that call all that’s needed is internet and Skype, plus at least some English.

But since that number is toll-free, no Skype credit is required. Also, as understood, there seem to be Russian-speaking operators, though there was never a successful transfer to one.

Curiously, in half the cases operators introduced themselves with names like Anton, Tanya, etc., but said they didn’t speak Russian. On the other hand, this number is reachable 24/7 without breaks or weekends, and the wait is short. Connection to an operator happened immediately or within 1–2 minutes.

By phone, the situation was described to the operator, who verified identity against the profile data (wallet ID, address, date of birth, last four digits of the primary card), and clarified all information about transactions not initiated by the account holder.

At the end of the call, the agent informed that the wallet would be temporarily blocked for outgoing operations, and the password and registration email should be changed, then wait for further instructions by email.

Skrill questionnaire

After some time, an email came from Skrill with a 10‑question survey about the situation. The questions were straightforward, and some required only brief answers.

The heaviest items: a request to describe the disputed transactions (dates, amounts, IDs); antivirus logs from the computer; and information regarding contacting local law enforcement.

This last point, judging by forum comments, confuses many and stops them from proceeding further with Skrill’s investigation. It was unsettling too. Knowing local law enforcement, the usefulness of this step was questionable. But under Skrill’s rules it’s mandatory for the investigation; otherwise, there would likely be no chance of getting the money back.

There were various worries. There was a fear they might request the work computer or hard drive for examinations and never return them. If $50–100 had gone missing from Skrill, the process would likely have stopped there. But the amount was more substantial, so the decision was made to file a police report as Skrill required for their investigation.

It turned out not to be that difficult. Screenshots of the fraudulent transactions page and the profile data page were printed. Everything deemed unnecessary was redacted. A statement was written with the investigator at the police station, screenshots were attached, it was registered, they refused to make a photocopy, but allowed photos of all papers and later provided a case number.

Eventually, answers were provided to all questions, police documents and antivirus logs were attached, and everything was sent to the payments system.

A couple of days later, there was another call to the 24/7 support to confirm whether all the information needed for the investigation had been received and whether there were any further questions. Support confirmed receipt and that the investigation was ongoing; the only thing left was to wait.

There was also a clarification about the wallet block. It turned out nothing is lifted automatically. They once more asked about changing the email and password and whether two-step authentication was enabled on the wallet. After that, the response was that the wallet was fine.

Investigation results

Then it was the usual waiting for results.

Honestly, there was little confidence in a positive outcome because forum posts suggested that if funds weren’t returned within 1–2 days, later the response would often be that nothing could be recovered.

Still, it seemed better to check in occasionally rather than sit idle. Every 2–3 weeks there was a call to the call center to request an update on the investigation status. Each time the response was polite: the investigation is ongoing, the case is complex, and patience is needed.

By the way, while the investigation is in progress, the request remains open in the Skrill support section, and only when everything is finished is the request marked closed. There is no point opening new requests on the same topic while one is active—they get closed as duplicates.

After a bit more than 3 months, an email arrived first about incoming funds with the memo “AT Reimbursement Adjustments” in the payment details. The payment matched exactly the amount that had actually been stolen from the Skrill account.

A couple of days later, there was an email from a payments system investigator confirming that everything was resolved in favor of the account holder and the money was back on the balance.

Actions to take after discovering theft from Skrill

Of course, it’s hard to generalize from one case, but if funds have disappeared (stolen, transferred without consent) from a Skrill account, here is a brief action plan:

1. Contact support and describe the issue. Phone in Russia +7 495 249 5439, in the UK +44 203 308 2520. These numbers are available during business hours Monday to Friday. It’s best to call the U.S. number +1 855 719 2087 via Skype. This number operates 24/7.
2. Don’t forget to submit a ticket describing the problem via the form https://help.skrill.com/ContactSkrill.
3. Change the password and the email used to register the wallet.
4. Wait for Skrill’s questionnaire and provide the required information. Note that without documents confirming a report to local law enforcement regarding the missing funds from Skrill, the payments system will most likely not conduct an investigation.
5. Check with the call center whether Skrill’s security team has received all the required information to proceed with the investigation.
6. Verify that the wallet is unblocked for incoming and outgoing operations.
7. Wait for the investigation results and remember to check in periodically with the call center for status updates.

Also, a reminder that it’s possible to significantly increase Skrill wallet security by using a token that generates access codes (costs 15 euros) – help.skrill.com/Article/security/security-token/what-is-the-skrill-security-token-and-how-do-i-order-one.

If getting a token isn’t an option, at least enable two-step (two-factor) authentication in the account settings – help.skrill.com/Article/security/two-factor-authentication/two-factor-authentication-2fa.

This article is available in the following categories: Finance