The Internet Crime Complaint Center

The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)
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 and to further research,
develop, and refer the criminal complaints to federal, state, local, or international
law enforcement and/or regulatory agencies for any investigation they deem to be
appropriate. The IC3 was intended, and continues to emphasize, serving the broader
law enforcement community to include federal, as well as state, local, and international
agencies, which are combating Internet crime and, in many cases, participating in
Cyber Crime Task Forces.



Since its inception, the IC3 has received complaints crossing the spectrum of cyber
crime matters, to include online fraud in its many forms including Intellectual
Property Rights (IPR) matters,
Computer Intrusions (hacking), Economic Espionage (Theft of Trade Secrets), Online
Extortion, International Money Laundering, Identity Theft, and a growing list of
Internet facilitated crimes. Since June 2000, 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. Therefore, the IC3, formerly
known as the Internet Fraud Complaint Center (Internet
Fraud Complaint Center), was renamed in October 2003 to better reflect
the broad character of such matters having an Internet, or cyber, 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



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, local, and international 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.