What should I do first if I was scammed in California?

Cut off access, then build the record: stop payments, dispute charges with the bank or card issuer, change compromised passwords, and preserve every message and receipt. Report to the FTC, the California Attorney General, and local police. If a business deceived you, the CLRA's pre-suit demand under Civil Code section 1782 starts the legal clock.

Triage first. Contact the bank or card issuer immediately — card chargebacks and, for unauthorized electronic transfers, the federal Electronic Fund Transfer Act (15 U.S.C. § 1693g) limit losses, but the protections reward speed. Stop any recurring payments, change compromised credentials, and consider a security freeze with the credit bureaus, which federal law makes free. Then preserve everything: texts, emails, ads, contracts, receipts, and screenshots of the seller's pages before they vanish. Report the scam to the Federal Trade Commission, the California Attorney General, and local police or the district attorney's consumer fraud unit — reports rarely recover money alone, but they document the fraud and can feed prosecutions. If the scammer is an identifiable business, California claims follow: deceptive practices violate the Consumers Legal Remedies Act, and a damages suit requires the 30-day pre-suit demand letter of Civil Code section 1782, so sending it early preserves options. Fraud claims generally run three years from discovery under Code of Civil Procedure section 338(d).

Authority: Cal. Civ. Code § 1782