How to File a Federal Scam Complaint

Have you been the victim of internet fraud or a scam?  Don't just chalk it up to experience, and shrug it off.  File a scam complaint with the federal government.  Although this may not help you to get reimbursement, it will make the Feds aware of what happened to you.  Armed with this information, they can get the word out to other potential victims and, sometimes, they are able to even stop some of these scams.  You are providing an important community service when you report these scams.

Internet Crime Complaint Center IC3

You will want to file your complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (also called IC 3).  This is a partnership between the National White Color Crime Center and the FBI.  Other government agencies, such as the FTC, as well as private firms including eBay and PayPal, help support the Internet Crime Complaint Center.  You file your complaint at: http://www.ic3.gov/crimeschemes.aspx

The types of crimes you will want to report includes credit card fraud, identity theft, illegal lotteries, money laundering, and auction fraud.    While IC3 does not investigate the claims, it does forward your complaint to the most appropriate  law inforcement agency, including the FBI.

In order to file your complaint, simply go to their site, provide your name, address and phone number, and answer the yes/no questions that they ask.  My husband recently filed a complaint with IC3 when we received repeated phone calls telling us that the caller was from Microsoft and they wanted us to go to a specific website to purchase software that would repair a breach to our computer's security programs.  Microsoft never makes these calls.  The entire episode was a scam!

The website for IC3 is:  http://www.ic3.gov/crimeschemes.aspx

In addition, this site will give you important information about a number of current scams.  Knowing about this website is essential if you want to protect yourself from all the lies and liars out there!

You may also want to read:

Online Dating Scams
Computer Virus Scams
Credit Fraud and Identity Theft During Your Vacation

You are reading from the blog:  http://lies-and-liars.blogspot.com

Photo of FBI courtesy of www.morguefile.com