What is the Internet Crime Complaint Center?
IC3 was originally called the Internet Fraud Complaint Center (IFCC) when it was established on May 8, 2000. In December 2003 the agency was renamed to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) to better adequately encompass the criminal matters occurring in cyberspace.
The revamp of the agency was established as a partnership between the FBI, Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and the National White Collar Crime Center as a means to serve the law enforcement community. The center receives complaints related to cyber crime and researches, reviews and sends referrals to the appropriate agencies to handle the situation; this could be on the international, federal, state or local level.
The revamp of the agency was established as a partnership between the FBI, Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and the National White Collar Crime Center as a means to serve the law enforcement community. The center receives complaints related to cyber crime and researches, reviews and sends referrals to the appropriate agencies to handle the situation; this could be on the international, federal, state or local level.
IC3's mission
IC3's mission statement describes the agency's role as:
"To serve as a vehicle to receive, develop and refer criminal complaints regarding the rapidly expanding arena of cyber crime. The IC3 gives the victims of cyber crime a convenient and easy-to-use reporting mechanism that alerts authorities of suspected criminal or civil violations. For law enforcement and regulatory agencies at the federal, state, local and international level, the IC3 provides a central referral mechanism for complaints involving Internet related crimes."Additionally, the mission statement describes the agency's partnership with law enforcement and regulatory agencies and IC3's commitment to these partnerships in order to combat cyber crime.
Logging complaints
The IC3 takes complaints through an online form located on the organization's website. Complainants are asked to provide information related to the fraud or crime committed and to also give personal information so the situation can be referred to the proper agency and investigated; this way the investigating party can contact the complainant if needed. At least one of the parties (either the complainant or the party believed to have committed the crime) must be located within the United States.
Complaint reviews and referrals
With every complaint that is received, IC3 not only reviews and refers each individual complaint of a crime to an investigator, but also compiles the data and then generates an annual Internet Crime Report which reports on and outlines the types of crimes committed and the percentages related to individual crimes.
Compiles statistics
In 2010, IC3 reported it had received its second-highest number of complaints since the organization had been established; the agency had also received its two-millionth complaint. The 2010 Internet Crime Report stated, at that time, the agency received, on average, 25,000 complaints a month.
Over the past few years, the top Internet-related criminal activities reported include non-delivery of payment/merchandise, FBI-related scams and identity theft. Other types of crimes the agency evaluates include computer crimes, miscellaneous fraud, advance fee fraud, spam, auction fraud, credit card fraud and over-payment fraud.
Fast-forward to 2015 and IC3 reported it received an average of 22,000 complaints a month during 2014. Top complaints included auto fraud, impersonation emails, intimidation and extortion scams, frauds involving real estate, romance scams, and business email compromise schemes. New for that year was also the way analysts looked at complaints. First, they looked at the newest complaints and then looked back at older ones to pinpoint urgent threats and see what new trends have emerged. In 2015, the complaints to IC3 continued to grow, while monthly averages were down from 2010, there were 3 million complaints in all.
Over the past few years, the top Internet-related criminal activities reported include non-delivery of payment/merchandise, FBI-related scams and identity theft. Other types of crimes the agency evaluates include computer crimes, miscellaneous fraud, advance fee fraud, spam, auction fraud, credit card fraud and over-payment fraud.
Fast-forward to 2015 and IC3 reported it received an average of 22,000 complaints a month during 2014. Top complaints included auto fraud, impersonation emails, intimidation and extortion scams, frauds involving real estate, romance scams, and business email compromise schemes. New for that year was also the way analysts looked at complaints. First, they looked at the newest complaints and then looked back at older ones to pinpoint urgent threats and see what new trends have emerged. In 2015, the complaints to IC3 continued to grow, while monthly averages were down from 2010, there were 3 million complaints in all.
Jump ahead a little further to May 2018 and the agency reports a total of 301,580 complaints were received in 2017 with reported losses exceeding a whopping $1.4 billion. Last year's top three crimes reported by victims were: non payment/non delivery, personal data breach and phishing. To date, there have now been over 4 million complaints made.
If you believe you are a victim of an internet crime or are aware of a crime, you can file a complaint on the IC3 website and the agency will review and refer to the proper jurisdiction and agency. Be sure to keep any evidence in the event one of the law enforcement agencies opens an investigation. If you are in immediate danger or your situation is time sensitive, be sure to contact local authorities.
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