In this modern era where the internet has become a daily meal, online crime and fraud have also risen, which is definitely concerning. To combat these crimes and frauds, the Federal Bureau of Investigation or FBI teams up with the National White Collar Crime Center or NW3C and the Bureau of Justice Assistance or BJA to establish a thing known as the Internet Crime Complaint Center or IC3. What is the Internet Crime Complaint Center or IC3? Keep reading to find more about it, including its form.
About IC3.gov
The Internet Crime Complaint Center, which is also more known as IC3 in short, is defined as a centralized reporting mechanism that allows the victims of internet crime to submit complaints to law enforcement agencies for investigation. There is a user-friendly platform on the official website of the Federal Bureau of Investigation or FBI at IC3.gov where anyone can complete and submit the official complaint form. Completing the form is useful to document and track cybercrimes, helping law enforcement in identifying threats.
Completing the IC3.gov Complaint Form
There are several steps to follow to complete the IC3.gov complaint form, as follows:
- First of all, go to the official website of the Federal Bureau of Investigation at https://www.ic3.gov.
- When you are on the homepage, choose FILE A COMPLAINT tab located at the top of the page. It is the second menu from the left after HOME and before CONSUMER ALERTS.
- Then, choose any crime you want to report. The options include Business Email Compromise, Ransomware, Elder Fraud (Victims 60 and Over), and Other Cyber Crime.
- After choosing any of them, there will be something popping up on the screen informing you to have a few information ready before filing your complaint. The things that you have to prepare include victim mailing address, victim email address, victim phone number, description of incident, victim bank and account details, subject or recipient bank and account details, cryptocurrency wallet details (if applicable), transaction dates and amounts, and the full finance writing or routing instructions provided by the subject).
- Please click Proceed! If you are ready to prepare everything. If not, then click Close.
- On the next page, read about filing a complaint. If you agree with everything, click I Accept.
- When you are asked who is filling this complaint, choose Yes if you were the victim of the incident. If you are filling the form on behalf of another one, please choose No before pressing the Next (step 2).
- Then, provide as much detail as possible related to you, including name, age, address, city, county, country, state, zip code, phone number, and email address. If you are doing it on behalf of a business, make sure to include any Points-of-Contact at the business in the section below.
- After that, complete a section for every financial transaction or attempted one related to the complaint. Go to the next section if there are no financial details.
- Next, describe the incident as descriptive as possible.
- Once you are done describing it, provide the information about the subject(s). You can go to the next section if you have no idea about the subject(s).
- If there is any email used in the incident, provide a copy of it, including full email headers. Besides, you can also provide information about any other witnesses or victims to the incident and provide the information about any other law enforcement or government agencies that you have reported this incident to.
- On the Privacy & Signature page, read the entire statement. If you agree, confirm your agreement by typing your full name below in the box provided.
- Lastly, press the Submit Complaint button.
Bottom Line
The IC3.gov complaint form is a good thing that can be filled to report online crime and fraud. By filling out this form, you play a role in combating cybercrime and protecting others from becoming victims. In addition to helping law enforcement agencies in investigating and prosecuting criminals, you also help identify the trends and patterns in online criminal activities.
A bookworm and researcher especially related to law and citizenship education. I spend time every day in front of the internet and the campus library.
