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In the United States, report suspected cyber-enabled crime or fraud to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) as soon as possible. If anyone is in immediate danger, call 911 or local police; for an ongoing crime, a threat to life, or a national-security threat, contact the FBI through its tip route or a local field office. Preserve original records while you contain the incident—IC3 does not accept evidence attachments.
Choose the reporting route that fits the urgency
Reporting a suspected crime and containing a technical incident are separate tasks. You may need to notify law enforcement while also protecting accounts, devices, and systems. These routes are for the United States; reporting options and rules differ elsewhere.
| Situation | Route | Purpose and limits |
|---|---|---|
| Suspected cyber-enabled crime or fraud | Submit a complaint to IC3 promptly. | The FBI says reports support investigative and intelligence work, and prompt reporting can support recovery of lost funds. IC3 reviews complaints and may refer them to law enforcement or partner agencies; it does not itself investigate. |
| Immediate danger to a person | Call 911 or local police. | IC3 directs people facing immediate danger to emergency services or local police. |
| Ongoing crime, threat to life, or national-security threat | Use FBI tips or contact a local FBI field office. | The FBI identifies these as reasons to use its tip route or contact a field office. If the matter is time-sensitive, contact local law enforcement directly as well. |
The FBI’s cybercrime guidance says: “If you are the victim of a cyber-enabled crime or fraud, file a report with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) as soon as possible.” Filing does not guarantee that an agency will open an investigation or contact you. IC3 says an analyst reviews complaints and forwards information as appropriate; investigation and prosecution decisions belong to the receiving agencies, and IC3 does not provide complaint status or contact every complainant.
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A concise, chronological account makes it easier to explain what happened. The IC3 FAQ says to provide as much information as possible, even if some details are unavailable. The current complaint form requests an incident narrative, technical details, witnesses or other affected people, and information about reports already made to other agencies.
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- Timeline: When the incident began, when it was discovered, how it came to your attention, and the time zone for relevant timestamps.
- What was affected: Accounts, devices, systems, data, and files involved; what changed; and what response steps you have taken.
- People and identifiers: Known subject details, affected people, account identifiers, suspicious domains or URLs, and relevant email headers.
- Money or extortion: Transaction dates, amounts, recipient information, total loss, and cryptocurrency transaction metadata if relevant.
- Technical context: Relevant log excerpts, ransomware hashes, and other details that help describe the activity.
- Other reports: Agencies or organizations already notified and any reference information you received.
Before starting, make a short chronology and an inventory of affected accounts, systems, files, transactions, and notifications. The IC3 form says evidence does not need to be attached; keep originals securely in case an agency requests them later.
Preserve evidence and the context around it
IC3 states: “IC3 does not collect evidence regarding complaints, nor do we accept attachments.” That means the complaint is a report, not a place to upload your evidence. Retain relevant material for a possible request from an agency that takes up the matter.
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| Evidence category | Examples to retain | Preservation notes |
|---|---|---|
| Financial and documentary records | Receipts, transaction records, and relevant printed or electronic documents. | Keep the originals and note how each item relates to the incident. |
| Communications | Emails, chat transcripts, social messages, and telephony logs. | Keep electronic originals when possible. If printing email, retain full headers as well as message content. |
| Web and account context | Relevant web pages, suspicious URLs or domains, and account identifiers. | Record the date and time observed, with the time zone. |
| Technical artifacts | Hard-drive images, PCAP files containing malicious traffic, network, host, or security-appliance logs, and malware copies. | Do not edit or overwrite the only copy. Preserve timestamps and context; avoid collecting complex forensic material yourself unless qualified. |
CISA’s incident-reporting tip sheet also emphasizes retaining social messages and logs with dates, times, and time zones. As a practical handling habit, record who collected each item and when, and store the material securely. This is not a claim that every victim must follow a formal chain-of-custody protocol.
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Contain the incident without needlessly destroying evidence
For a data breach, IC3 advises isolating potentially affected hosts, revoking or resetting compromised credentials, and filing a detailed IC3 complaint that uses the words “data breach.” Its guidance says compromised hosts should be reimaged as soon as possible to limit attacker reuse unless the victim is instructed to preserve them forensically.
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- Limit further exposure: Quarantine or take potentially affected hosts offline when appropriate, and reset or revoke exposed credentials.
- Preserve relevant material: Before reimaging or wiping a device, consider whether it may need forensic preservation. Do not assume immediate wiping is always the right first step.
- Coordinate if preservation matters: If a system may contain important evidence, coordinate with law enforcement or a qualified incident responder before altering it. Ordinary victims are not instructed by these sources to acquire disk images or collect volatile evidence themselves.
- Report the breach: Submit the IC3 complaint with a detailed account and identify it as a data breach.
After filing: save the record and add new information
Save or print the complaint at submission, along with any confirmation information shown. IC3 says it does not provide status updates and may not contact each complainant. If you later learn additional facts, submit a new complaint with the added information rather than assuming the original can be edited. Keep your retained evidence available in case an investigating agency contacts you directly.
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