Privacy Policy

Your complaint data, including personal contact information, will be made available to certified government law enforcement and regulatory agencies in many countries. The current list of certified agencies, which is subject to change. Government agencies may use this information to investigate possible scammers, uncover new scams, pursue regulatory or enforcement actions, and spot consumer trends. Information submitted through the online complaint form also may be used in the aggregate to analyze trends and statistics that may be released to the public. This aggregate information will not contain your personal identifying information. If someone reporting a complaint to econsumer.gov indicates that he/she is under the age of 18, the personal information gathered by the complaint form will not be collected.

The information contained in your complaint will be entered into Consumer Sentinel, a consumer complaint database maintained by the FTC. The Federal Trade Commission Act permits the FTC, which operates this site on behalf of other participating agencies, to collect information so that we can process your complaint. Reporting your complaint is voluntary, as is what personal and other information you decide to provide, though the amount of information provided will affect what use we can make of your complaint.

We may also use the complaint you provide for authorized disclosures and routine uses, as permitted by the U.S. Privacy Act of 1974. For example, consumer complaints can be disclosed to the subject to attempt to resolve the complaint.

Privacy Act Statement

The collection of information on this form is authorized by one or more of the following statutes: 18 U.S.C. § 1028 (false documents and identity theft); 1028A (aggravated identity theft); 18 U.S.C. § 1029 (credit card fraud); 18 U.S.C. § 1030 (computer fraud); 18 U.S.C. § 1343 (wire fraud); 18 U.S.C 2318B (counterfeit and illicit labels); 18 U.S.C. § 2319 (violation of intellectual property rights); 28 U.S.C. § 533 (FBI authorized to investigate violations of federal law for which it has primary investigative jurisdiction); and 28 U.S.C. § 534 (FBI authorized to collect and maintain identification, criminal information, crime, and other records).

The collection of this information is relevant and necessary to document and investigate complaints of cyber-enabled crime. Submission of the information requested is voluntary; however, your failure to supply requested information may impede or preclude the investigation of your complaint by law enforcement agencies.