The Internet Fraud Complaint
Center (IFCC) is a joint effort by the Federal Bureau of Investigation
and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C), which serves
as a clearinghouse for the receipt, analysis, and dissemination
of complaints concerning frauds perpetrated via the Internet.
Over the last few years, the FBI has witnessed a dramatic increase
in the use of the Internet for criminal purposes. The Internet
is a perfect vehicle for locating potential victims and provides
a measure of anonymity for the fraudster. It is the FBI's belief
that a central repository to house Internet fraud complaints
was necessary for law enforcement to effectively address this
crime problem. While other agencies currently receive Internet
fraud-related complaints, the IFCC possesses the additional capability
to analyze the data to identify criminal schemes and has a mechanism
in place to make referrals to the appropriate law enforcement
or regulatory agency.
Consumer victims of Internet
fraud are often unsure of how or where to report what they suspect
was criminal conduct. The IFCC provides a convenient and easy
way to alert authorities of a suspected criminal activity or
civil violation. Victims of Internet crime are able to go directly
to the IFCC Web site (www.ifccfbi.gov) to submit their complaint
information, relieving considerable frustration for the victim
in trying to decide which law enforcement agency should receive
their complaint.
For law enforcement, as well
as regulatory agencies, the IFCC offers a central repository
for complaints related to Internet fraud, uses the information
to quantify fraud patterns, and provides timely statistical data
of current fraud trends. Typically, law enforcement receives
complaints in a piecemeal and fragmented fashion, most not reaching
a level to advance the complaint to a formal investigation. IFCC's
trained analysts search for common threads and conduct detailed
analytical studies of related complaints, prior to dissemination
to law enforcement. Without the immediate technical investigatory
steps taken by IFCC personnel, it can become more difficult to
identify the location of a Web site or the origin of an E-mail.
By consolidating the complaint information, the IFCC is able
to address the larger scope of the Internet crime problem and
identify links and emerging fraud schemes.
The IFCC has been contacted by
several companies that conduct significant business over the
Internet in an effort to gain IFCC assistance in investigating
some major frauds. These companies have reported millions of
dollars in losses. The IFCC is in the process of providing a
business-friendly system for rapid data transfer of multiple
complaints in an effort to better serve these crime victim-companies'
needs. This will permit Internet companies that are experiencing
these losses to file bulk complaints, and those complaints will
then be distributed by IFCC to the appropriate law enforcement
agencies.
During the start-up phase of
IFCC, the entire staff processed incoming complaints and forwarded
them to an average of four to five law enforcement agencies.
This referral process has spawned hundreds of criminal investigations
throughout the country. The FBI staff at the IFCC have begun
to use the data to identify multiple victims, various crime trends
and same subject cases thus initiating the investigative phase
of the center's operations. This process wasn't fully functional
until January 1, 2001. There are two types of investigations
at IFCC, one when the receiving agency initiates an investigation
based on the complaint received from the center, and those investigations
initiated at the center based on the information available.
From October 1, 2000 through
April 6, 2001, 423 investigations were referred, and an additionally
361 pending investigation are in the process of being referred
to various law enforcement agencies. These 784 Internet Fraud
investigations have encompassed over 3,000 complaints and have
been referred to numerous federal law enforcement agencies and
1,267 local law enforcement agencies.
These do not include the investigations
initiated by the complaint referral process. IFCC has also referred
41 cases encompassing over 200 complaints to International law
enforcement agencies. To date, IFCC has referred 10,371 complaints
to 39,636 law enforcement agencies.
The IFCC has received complaints
of victims from 89 different countries. Auction fraud is by far
the most reported Internet fraud, comprising nearly two-thirds
of all complaints. Payment for merchandise that was never delivered
accounts for 22% of complaints, and credit and debit card fraud
make up almost 5% of complaints.
There are four Supervisory Special
Agents managing twenty three Internet Crime Specialist, seventeen
clerical and four computer scientist positions. Hours of operation
are from 7:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. EST, but victims can file
complaints twenty four hours per day, 365 days per year.