How to report a scammer to the FBI

According to the IC3's own FAQ, anyone who believes they have been affected by a cyber-enabled crime can file a complaint, including someone reporting on behalf of another person, and citizens of other countries, including people reporting a subject located in another country. (IC3 FAQ) IC3 focuses on cyber-enabled crime: fraud and scams carried out with the help of the internet, email, chat, or telephone systems that rely on internet technology, such as advance-fee schemes, non-delivery of goods or services, business email compromise, romance scams, investment and cryptocurrency fraud, ransomware, and hacking.

IC3 is not the right channel for an ongoing emergency: if you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 911 or your local police first. Crimes against children should go to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and threats of terrorism or violence should be reported at tips.fbi.gov, not through the IC3 complaint form.

The IC3 form is detailed, and the FBI states that its ability to act on a complaint depends on the accuracy and completeness of the information provided. Before you start, collect:

• Your own details: name, address, phone number and email, and whether you are the person affected or filing on their behalf.
• Financial and transaction details: the account information, transaction dates and amounts, who received the money, and your total loss. If cryptocurrency was involved, note the transaction hash, wallet addresses and the exchange or platform used, since IC3 provides a dedicated page on cryptocurrency-specific information to include.
• Subject information: anything you know about the person or entity that scammed you, including name, address, phone number, email, website and IP address, if available.
• Description of the incident: a clear, chronological account of what happened.
• Email headers and message copies, if email was involved, since full headers can help trace the origin of a message.

The complaint form itself is organized into sections covering who is filing, complainant information, financial transactions, information about the subject, description of the incident, other information, and privacy and signature.

If you sent money by wire transfer or a similar bank transfer and realize quickly that it was fraudulent, time is critical. Reporting promptly to IC3, together with immediately contacting your bank or the receiving bank, is what allows a small window in which a wire can potentially be recalled or frozen before the funds are moved again. This process, associated with IC3's Recovery Asset Team, depends on the transfer being reported within a short window after it was sent and is not guaranteed to succeed, since scammers frequently move funds out quickly. It generally does not apply to cash, gift cards, cryptocurrency sent to a wallet you do not control, or transfers reported long after the fact. Filing your IC3 complaint as soon as possible after noticing a suspicious wire transfer, and calling your bank at the same time, gives you the best chance of this process being relevant to your case.

IC3 describes itself as the central hub for reporting cyber-enabled crime, run by the FBI, and states that complaints are analyzed and may be referred to federal, state, local or international law enforcement and partner agencies for possible investigation. (IC3.gov) It is explicit, however, about the limits of this process:

• The FBI cannot guarantee a response to every complaint, and cannot take on every complaint as an individual investigation.
• IC3 does not provide status updates on complaints. If more information is needed, someone will contact you; unsolicited contact claiming to be the FBI or IC3 asking for money, wire transfers or gift cards is itself a common impersonation scam, and the FBI and other government agents will never ask for payment of any kind.
• Filing a complaint is not, by itself, an investigation, an arrest, or a path to getting money back. The IC3 site is direct that it does not work with any non-law-enforcement entity, such as law firms or crypto recovery services, to recuperate lost funds, and warns victims to be wary of anyone claiming otherwise using the IC3 name.
• Complaints are still valuable in aggregate: the FBI uses them to understand the broader threat landscape, identify patterns across victims, and support cases where enough evidence and jurisdiction align.

An IC3 complaint does not replace other reports. If you lost money, file a report with your local police as well, especially if you need an official police report number for your bank, credit card company or insurer. Also file with the Federal Trade Commission at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, which feeds reports into the Consumer Sentinel database used by thousands of law enforcement agencies, in addition to, not instead of, an IC3 complaint. Contact your bank, card issuer or payment platform directly and immediately if a transaction is still pending or recent, since they, not IC3, are the ones who can attempt to stop or reverse a payment. See our companion guide on how to report a scammer to the police for the equivalent official channels outside the US.

IC3 accepts complaints from people outside the United States, including reports involving a subject located abroad, since cyber-enabled fraud frequently crosses borders. That said, if you live outside the US, it is generally worth filing with your own country's national fraud or cybercrime reporting body as well, since that is the agency with jurisdiction and resources to act locally. Our guide to reporting a scammer to the police lists the verified official channels for the UK, Canada, Australia, Germany and India.

Fraudpol is not a government agency or law enforcement body, and it does not replace filing with IC3, your local police, or the FTC. What it offers is a way to submit identifying details about a specific individual or group, such as a name, phone number, wallet address, website or profile, for manual review, in parallel with your official reports. Fraudpol does not recover money, never charges victims a fee, and never contacts victims unsolicited asking for payment. Where a report is substantiated, it can be referred onward, but filing with Fraudpol does not come with a promised timeline or an outcome guarantee, in the same way an IC3 complaint does not guarantee an investigation or arrest.

Last checked: September 2026.

• IC3.gov home page
• IC3 complaint form
• IC3 FAQ
• IC3: Directing Your Complaint
• IC3 Resources
• ReportFraud.ftc.gov (FTC)