Remission
The Justice Department process by which victims of a crime can ask for money back from forfeited assets. The Department says it and its remission administrators never ask for payment.
When the government seizes and forfeits money linked to a crime, victims can sometimes get part of it back. The Justice Department says it does this in two ways: by granting petitions for remission filed by victims, and by transferring forfeited funds to courts for payment of restitution, which it calls restoration. The Department says the programme has returned more than $13 billion in forfeited assets to victims since 2000, and that it is the sole decision-maker on remission petitions.
The rule that matters most for anyone who has lost money is that this process is free. The Department states that it and its remission administrators will never ask for payment to take part or to receive funds, and that a request for a fee is a fraud. It also warns about government impersonators and fraudulent websites, and tells victims to deal only with representatives they have already been in contact with.
So an unexpected message saying you are owed money from a government fund, and asking for a fee first, matches what the Department calls fraud.
Where it shows up
- Recovery scams · The second scam, aimed at the people the first one already took, and it arrives knowing exactly what you lost.
- Romance scams · A relationship built to be spent, where the first request for money is small, urgent, and framed as a crisis.
- Fake investment platforms · A trading dashboard that shows everything except the one thing that matters; that no trade ever happened.
Sources
- Remission. US Department of Justice, Criminal Division. Accessed 2026-10-10. Supports: That the Department and its remission administrators never ask for payment, that it is the sole decision-maker on petitions, and the fee warning.
- Victim Compensation. US Department of Justice, Criminal Division. Accessed 2026-10-10. Supports: That remission and restoration are the two routes, and the figure of more than $13 billion returned since 2000.
- Victims. US Department of Justice, Criminal Division. Accessed 2026-10-10. Supports: The warning about government impersonators and fraudulent websites.