How to Report a Computer Crime

Falling victim to any sort of crime can be traumatizing. When that crime is a cyber crime, says Boulder computer crimes defense attorney Moorhead law, it can be particularly unnerving as you might not really know how to respond. Thankfully, there are ways that you can make cyber crimes known, and the following guide will offer some pointers on how, exactly, you should go about reporting a computer crime should you notice one has occurred.

An Overview on Reporting Cybercrimes

If you’re just looking for a high-level overview of which government agencies you can turn to if you need to inform the authorities of criminal activity, Homeland Security has already compiled a pretty helpful list, which includes the following organizations:

• US-CERT: For reporting network vulnerabilities, phishing attempts, and other sorts of scam activity through their hotline or email tip line.
• FTC: The Federal Trade Commission has online resources for reporting fraud and identity theft, along with information on how to recover after falling victim to identity theft.
• IC3: This is a partnership between the FBI and National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C). You can contact them to file complaints about all manner of online crime.
• SSA: You can even report some cyber crime to the Social Security Administration. They run a fraud hotline, and if you suspect someone is using your social security number without authorization, you can use it to report them. 

Now, these agencies aren’t the only ones you might turn to if you’ve encountered cyber crime, but they are some of the most prominent and effective pathways for making illicit computer activity known to authorities. Of course, doing so also requires that you know a little something about what sorts of activities are criminal, which we’ll cover in some detail next.

Stay Aware of Criminal Activity Online

In order to protect yourself better, you should stay aware of some of the most common forms of online crime and methods for countering them. While we can’t cover every single detail in this guide, the FBI’s has a thorough list of cyber crimes you can review, which include some of the following (and very common) ways that criminals target people online:

• Compromising emails
• Identity theft
• Malware, ransomware, etc.
• Spoofing and phishing
• Cyberstalking, online predation

Stay aware of these various kinds of crime and know the steps you can take to safeguard yourself to stay secure as you traverse the internet!