If a coin you held has just collapsed, take a breath. Losing money this way is common, it happens fast, and it is not a sign that you are stupid. Most memecoins go to zero, and many are built so that early wallets can sell to later ones.
This page is a checklist. Work through it in order. The first three steps take about 20 minutes and protect what you still have. The rest can wait until tomorrow.
Key point: Nobody can reverse a Solana transaction. Not your bank, not the police, not us, and not anyone who messages you offering help. Anyone who says they can, for a fee, is very likely running a second scam.
1. Stop, and don't send more money
- Don't put more money into the same coin to try to win the loss back. A coin that has just been rugged has usually lost its liquidity, and the people who pulled it are gone.
- Don't pay anyone who offers to fix it, trace it or unlock it. That includes "support" accounts, "recovery experts" and anyone who replied to your post.
- Don't sign anything new in your wallet until you've done step 2. If someone sends a link to "claim a refund" or "compensation", don't open it.
2. Secure your wallet
First, work out what happened.
- The coin collapsed, but your wallet is untouched. Your SOL and other tokens are still there and you never shared your seed phrase. This is a rug pull, not a wallet hack. Your wallet is not compromised, but it's still worth a quick tidy.
- Things left your wallet that you didn't send. Or you signed something odd, connected to a strange site, or typed your seed phrase anywhere. Treat the wallet as compromised.
Then:
- Revoke token approvals and disconnect sites. Use your wallet's own approvals screen or a revoke tool you open from a bookmark, never from a link someone sent you. Our guide to checking and revoking approvals on Solana walks through it.
- If the wallet may be compromised, move what's left. Make a brand new wallet with a new seed phrase on a device you trust, and send your remaining SOL and the tokens you know to it. Don't move unknown tokens that appeared on their own. Some are built to trigger malicious actions.
- Never share your seed phrase. No wallet, exchange, police force or "investigator" needs it. Whoever has it owns the wallet.
- Keep the rugged tokens where they are, in a wallet you control, for now. If you want to claim the loss for tax (step 6), you need to still own them.
More on all of this in wallet safety basics.
3. Write down the facts while they're fresh
Screens change and posts get deleted. Save these today, in a document or a note you keep somewhere safe:
- The coin's contract address (also called the mint address or CA). Not just the ticker, which can be copied.
- Your wallet address.
- Transaction IDs (signatures) for your purchase and anything else that matters. Paste your wallet address into a block explorer such as Solscan and open each transaction to copy its ID.
- Dates, times and amounts: how much SOL you spent and roughly what it was worth in pounds at the time.
- Screenshots of the coin's chart, its DexScreener or pump.fun page, our rug check result, the coin's website and social accounts, and any posts or messages that promoted it.
- Who told you about it: the account, group or person, with links, and anything they promised.
This record helps a police report, helps your bank if a bank payment was involved, and is exactly what HMRC expects you to keep for a tax loss.
4. Report it
Reporting is free, and it rarely gets money back. It does help police link cases and spot the same wallets and groups again.
- England, Wales and Northern Ireland: report it to Report Fraud, the national fraud and cyber crime reporting service that replaced Action Fraud in December 2025. You can report online or call 0300 123 2040.
- Scotland: call Police Scotland on 101.
- If a firm was involved (a "platform", a "fund manager", an "account manager" or a company that took your money): tell the FCA on its scam reporting page or on 0800 111 6768, and check the firm on the FCA Warning List.
- If you paid anyone by bank transfer or card, call your bank straight away on the number on your card, or on 159.
- If it went through an exchange, tell the exchange's support team through its app or website, not through anyone who messages you.
A coin simply losing value is not a crime. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, dishonestly making a false representation to make money or cause someone a loss can be fraud under the Fraud Act 2006. Scotland has its own law on fraud. You don't have to decide which it was: report it and let the police judge.
5. Watch out for the second scam
In the hours after you post about a rug, expect messages from "recovery firms", "blockchain investigators", "ethical hackers", fake lawyers and even fake police. They ask for a fee, your ID, remote access or your seed phrase. The FCA says it would never suggest you pay to get lost money back.
Read crypto recovery scams: why "we can get your money back" is the second scam before you reply to anyone.
6. The tax side: a loss may be claimable
If you're a UK taxpayer, a rugged coin can usually be used as a capital loss, which can reduce Capital Gains Tax on other gains. The rules, from HMRC's own guidance:
- You still own the tokens, so nothing has been disposed of yet. HMRC lets you make a negligible value claim on tokens you still own that have become worthless. It treats them as sold and bought back at the value you state (which can be nil), creating a loss. Because of pooling, the claim covers your whole holding of that token.
- A disposal also creates a loss. Swapping or selling the tokens for whatever little they will fetch is a disposal, and the difference from what you paid is a loss.
- Theft is treated differently. HMRC says theft is not a disposal, because you still own the stolen asset and have a right to recover it. If tokens were worthless when you got them, a negligible value claim won't be allowed.
- You have to report the loss to use it. You can claim up to 4 years after the end of the tax year in which you made it. You include it on your Self Assessment tax return. If you've never made a gain and aren't registered for Self Assessment, you can write to HMRC instead.
Every situation is different. Check with HMRC or an accountant who understands cryptoassets before you claim. Our guide to memecoins and tax in the UK has more on the records to keep.
7. Look after yourself
Losing money can hit hard: shame, anger, not sleeping, wanting to win it back fast. Those feelings are normal. You don't have to deal with them alone.
- Samaritans are there day or night, for anything you're going through. Call free on 116 123.
- If trading has started to feel like gambling you can't stop, the National Gambling Helpline, run by GamCare, is free and open 24 hours a day on 0808 8020 133.
- If you're in danger right now, call 999.
Taking a break from trading apps, muting coin groups and telling someone you trust can all help. Our read: the most expensive trade is often the one made straight after a loss.
Common questions
Can I get my money back?
Usually not. A Solana transaction can't be reversed, and in a rug pull you swapped your own SOL for a coin that collapsed, so there is no payment to cancel. Money sometimes comes back in narrow cases: a bank transfer or card payment you made to a scammer, or funds frozen during a police investigation. Neither involves paying a private recovery firm.
Was it a crime?
It depends on what happened, and that is for the police to judge. Coins losing value is not a crime on its own. Lying to people to take their money can be. Report it either way.
Should I name the people I think did it?
Put names, accounts and wallet addresses in your police report, not in public posts. Public accusations can put you at legal risk, and recovery scammers watch those threads.
I posted about my loss and now people are messaging me. Are they real?
Treat every unsolicited offer of help as a scam. Real police, banks and regulators don't find you through replies on social media, and none of them will ask for a fee or your seed phrase.
Does the rug pull mean my wallet was hacked?
Not by itself. A rug pull happens to the coin, not to your wallet. If nothing else left your wallet and you never shared your seed phrase, your wallet is fine. If you signed anything odd or shared the phrase, follow step 2 and move what's left.
Do I need to report the loss to HMRC?
Only if you want to use it. A loss you don't report can't reduce future tax. You have up to 4 years after the end of the tax year. Check with HMRC or an accountant.
This page is information, not financial, legal or tax advice. Before It Rugs can't recover funds or investigate individual cases, but if you think a coin on our site was graded wrongly, tell us.