Online Fraud in the States rises by 60%

The Internet Fraud Complaint Center (IFCC), a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C) in the States, has announced a 60% rise in reported online crime year on year for 2003.

The centre reports receiving over 120,000 online fraud complaints through its website in 2003 - up from the 75,000+ complaints counted in 2002.

IFCC's mission is to address fraud and other crime committed over the internet. For victims of internet fraud, IFCC provides a convenient reporting mechanism that alerts authorities of a suspected criminal or civil violation. It is possible to submit a complaint directly through its website.

Law enforcement and regulatory agencies deal directly with the IFCC too, which offers them a central repository for complaints related to internet fraud, works to quantify fraud patterns, and provides statistical trend data.

Increasingly, the organisation finds itself involved in gathering data upon and reporting other forms of internet crime, too. In recognition of its widening role, the centre will be renaming itself the Internet Crime Complaint Center, or "IC3".

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