Knowing where to report online scams in the US is an essential part of being a member of the online community. Being one of the top consumer countries in the world, US is always under constant attack of different forms of scams such as online scams. The growing problem with online scams has caused many citizens and businesses millions of losses. This is the reason why the US government and other relevant agencies are aggressively campaigning for everyone to take part in the anti-online scam campaigns.
To show support on the efforts against online scams, online community members of the US are encouraged to take part in reporting an malicious online scheme that they encounter. The report gathered by these participating agencies will be utilized to speed up the process of finding online criminal s that are behind of these malicious schemes. To give you some ideas where to report online scams in the US, see the tips below;
- Like most top consumer countries, US also have a central online scam fraud reporting facility, the Internet Crime Complaint Center or IC3. The IC3 operates under the supervision of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The website is primarily designed to accept reports on online scams and to provide tips and information how consumers and small businesses can avoid the most recent types of online scams.
The IC3 have expert fraud analysts who are assigned to determine which reports have valid information and should be forwarded to authorities for further investigation. Using the information provided in the report that you filed, authorities will start to cross reference your report to other reports that they already have. Authorities do this to map patterns that can direct them to the fraudsters behind the scheme.
- Report online scams to the Federal Trade Commission or FTC. This government agency is focused on protecting and supporting the welfare of the consumers and businesses. Anything that can affect these two sectors is covered by the FTC. This is the reason why it offers a consumer complaint form where victims of different types of fraud including online scams can report their experience. The FTC helps facilitate communication between their partner authorities and the victims of online scams to ensure that the victim of online scam gets the help that they need in order to address their concern.
The FTC has highly skilled fraud specialists who look into the reports received through the FTC consumer complaint center. These specialists determine which report to forward to authorities based on various factors. There are also some circumstances when you can ask the FTC experts to advise you on how to proceed with your complaint.
The agencies mentioned above are the primary agencies assigned by the US government to facilitate and assist victims who report online scams. Through this easy and convenient way to report online scams, the government hopes to encourage more victims to step up and report online scams that they experienced, which incidentally helps promote the government campaigns against online malicious schemes. 