Last month, the Clerk’s Clerks Facebook page was tagged with a scam description, where the scammer asked to meet the potential victim to obtain a cashier’s check for missed jury duty. Our Office of Inspector General issued a public service announcement about a total of 14 such cases reported in April, which was covered by local TV stations. Thankfully, many of our residents are becoming more wary of such scams and are not responding.
If you are targeted by a scammer, you can do more than just ignore them. By reporting the crime to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, or IC3, you can help make our community safer. The FBI runs IC3, the Nation’s central hub for reporting cybercrime scams.
If you believe you have fallen victim to such a crime, file a complaint or report with IC3. Your information helps the FBI and its partners bring these criminals to justice. Combined with other data, it allows the FBI to investigate reported crimes, track trends and threats, and, in some cases, even freeze stolen funds. The FBI shares these reports of crime throughout its field offices and law enforcement partners, strengthening the nation’s collective response both locally and nationally.
To report on their website, you’ll need the following:
- Victim’s name, address, telephone, and email. (This will be your information if you are the victim, or another person if you are filing on behalf of a third party)
- Financial transaction information (e.g., account information, transaction date and amount, who received the money)
- Subject’s name, address, telephone, email, website, IP address and email headers. (The subject is the person/entity allegedly committing the crime).
- Specific details on how you were victimized.
- Any other relevant information you believe is necessary to support your complaint.
After you file a complaint with the IC3, the information is reviewed by an analyst and forwarded to the law enforcement or regulatory agencies with jurisdiction. The IC3 does not conduct investigations and, therefore, is not able to provide the investigative status of a previously filed complaint. Investigation and prosecution are at the discretion of the receiving agencies. For more information on IC3 and related crimes, you can reference their recent Public Service Announcement or 2023 Annual Report.
Anyone can become a victim of fraudsters, and we encourage you to act for yourself and others by reporting it. The Clerk’s Office of Inspector General is available to educate your group about fraud prevention by contacting them at (239) 252-8412 or OIG@collierclerk.com.