A fee
None of those pages uses the phrase pay a fee to withdraw.
After a fraud, or after an investment that failed, someone may offer to get the money back if you pay a fee first. The charge may be called a tax, a solicitor's fee, or an admin fee. If you are asked to pay, or to hand over a bank account, a card or other financial details, end the contact. Do not pay, and do not hand the details over.
A later message may offer to get the money back, or to buy the holding back, once you pay a fee. That is the same kind of approach.
- Source: Recovery room scams, Financial Conduct Authority (first published 4 Dec 2019) · read 26 Oct 2026
- Source: Crypto investment scams, Financial Conduct Authority (first published 26 Jun 2018) · read 26 Oct 2026
- Source: Protect yourself from scams, Financial Conduct Authority (first published 8 Aug 2017) · read 26 Oct 2026
Technical detail
The upfront fee is the recovery-room account. The offer to buy the holding back is on the crypto investment scams page. The protect-yourself page uses the same example and calls it a recovery room scam.