A chargeback is a forced reversal of a card payment, run through the card scheme rather than through the merchant. The merchant's bank — the acquirer — takes the money back and the merchant has to defend the transaction. This is why a card payment is the best position a scam victim can be in.
What it is filed as
Chargebacks are submitted under a reason code, and the code determines what has to be proved. For scam cases the usual candidates are goods or services not provided, services not as described, a transaction you did not authorise, or a cancelled recurring payment that kept charging. Picking the right code matters: the same facts can win under one code and lose under another, which is a large part of what preparing a submission actually involves.
The deadline
As a general rule the major card schemes allow around 120 days to raise a dispute, but the date it counts from varies by reason code — sometimes the transaction date, sometimes the date the service was due and did not happen. In certain "service not provided" situations the outer limit can extend considerably further, up to around 540 days from the transaction. Separately, statutory rights in your country may give you a different window running from your statement date.
Do not rely on those numbers for your own case. Ask your issuer directly: "What is the last date I can dispute this transaction?" Then tell us that date. It is the single most useful fact you can give us.
The sequence
- Submission. The dispute goes in with the evidence bundle.
- Provisional credit. Many issuers credit you while the dispute runs. This is provisional — it can be taken back if the merchant successfully defends.
- Merchant representment. The merchant has a chance to defend, typically with 30 to 45 days to respond.
- Second presentment or pre-arbitration. If they defend, the dispute can be pushed again with a rebuttal.
- Arbitration. Rare, and the scheme decides.
Expect several weeks to a few months end to end. Silence in the middle of that is normal and not a sign anything has gone wrong.
Where scam chargebacks are typically won or lost
They are won on documentary proof that what you were sold never existed or was never delivered — the fee demanded before withdrawal, the balance you could not draw down, the licence claim that proves false. They are lost when the file is merely an account of being deceived, with nothing that establishes the merchant did not provide what was promised.
If you bought crypto with your card
Be aware of the distinction here. If your card paid a legitimate exchange, and you then sent the crypto onwards to the scammer yourself, the card transaction was fulfilled: you received the crypto you bought. The chargeback route is weak, and the case has to be pursued as a crypto tracing matter instead. If your card paid the fake platform directly, the chargeback route is live.