Internet Crime Complaint Center
The Internet Fraud Complaint Center
(IFCC) was established as a partnership between
the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C)
to serve as a means to receive Internet related criminal complaints, research, develop and
refer the criminal complaints to law enforcement agencies for any investigation they deem to
be appropriate. The IFCC was intended, and continues to emphasize serving the broader
law enforcement community, to include federal, as well as state and local agencies,
which are combating Internet crime and in many cases participating in Cyber Crime Task Forces.
Since its inception, the IFCC has received complaints
crossing the spectrum of cyber crime matters, to include on-line fraud in its many forms,
Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) matters, Computer Intrusions (hacking), Economic Espionage
(Theft of Trade Secrets), On-line Extortion, International Money Laundering, Identity Theft
and a growing list of Internet facilitated crimes. Over the past three years it has
become increasingly evident that, regardless of the label placed on a cyber crime matter,
the potential for it to overlap with another referred matter is substantial.
The IFCC is therefore being renamed the
Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), to better reflect the broad character of such
matters having a cyber (Internet) nexus referred to the IC3, and to minimize the need for
one to distinguish "Internet Fraud" from other potentially overlapping cyber crimes.
IC3 Mission Statement
The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) is a partnership between the
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the
National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C).
IC3's mission is 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, and local level, IC3 provides a central referral mechanism for complaints involving
Internet related crimes.
Significant and supplemental to partnering with law enforcement and regulatory agencies,
it will remain a priority objective of the IC3 to establish effective alliances with industry.
Such alliances will enable the IC3 to leverage both intelligence and subject matter expert resources,
pivotal in identifying and in crafting an aggressive, proactive approach to combating cyber crime.