Preserving bank and payment records after wire fraud

Wire fraud files succeed or fail on documentation quality. Banks and counsel need more than a final debit: intermediary banks, value dates, beneficiary names and any recall correspondence all shape what can be requested next.

Download complete statements covering the period before and after the transfer. Save payment advices, SWIFT or Fedwire references, beneficiary account details and any internal fraud-case numbers. If the wire passed through correspondents, ask the bank which institutions touched the funds.

Written notice to the sending bank should state that the payment was unauthorized or induced by fraud, and request preservation of related records. Ask whether a recall or indemnity process is available and what deadlines apply.

Organize materials chronologically. Gaps—missing chat threads, incomplete invoices or altered screenshots—slow institutional responses and weaken later tracing. Clean originals are more persuasive than heavily annotated copies.