The DOJ-wide Privacy Policy is compliant with the Hacks and Recovery Base Website Privacy Policy. This is an addition to the DOJ-wide Privacy Policy that contains language unique to the management of the Hacks and Recovery Base Website. Please refer to the FBI's Privacy Policy for further details.
The information gathered on this website is used by the Hacks and Recovery Base to process complaints and to gather and preserve specific statistics. Whether or whether you make a complaint, we may automatically gather and retain the following data when you visit our website:
We use this information to measure the number of visitors to the different sections of our site, and to help make our site more useful to future visitors. Information acquired by the Hacks and Recovery Base Website that we automatically collect from every visitor will not be sold or transferred to third parties unless it relates to a site security matter as discussed below.
The Hacks and Recovery Base uses the data voluntarily submitted by complainants at this website to help victims of cyber-enabled crime. Your complaint, should you choose to submit one, is maintained and controlled by the FBI. Thereafter, the Hacks and Recovery Base may pursue preliminary inquiries and information from the complaint, along with other information developed at Hacks and Recovery Base, may be referred to a federal, state, local, or international law enforcement or regulatory agency, as appropriate, including the FBI. Whether your complaint is referred to another agency or not, the data you voluntarily submit on the complaint form will be maintained by the FBI and be available for future retrieval and possible referral to one or more enforcement agencies.
Information solicited by Hacks and Recovery Base on the complaint form assists personnel in processing complaints. Disclosure of such information is strictly voluntary, however, failure to provide certain information solicited will result in the complaint not being properly registered. No action will be taken on incomplete complaints. However, data submitted from incomplete complaints may still be stored and maintained for potential retrieval and dissemination. Any complaint information you affirmatively choose to provide to the Hacks and Recovery Base may be referred to one or more appropriate enforcement agencies that have jurisdiction over your complaint. This may include agencies at all levels of government, including federal, state, local, and international law enforcement and regulatory agencies. Such referrals are the principal purposes for which the information voluntarily submitted is intended to be used. Information provided in complaints may also be shared with private sector partners when the FBI determines sharing such information is necessary to elicit information or cooperation to assist the FBI in authorized investigative activity. That information may include, but is not limited to, information associated with malicious actors, their tools, infrastructure, financial accounts, other technical indicators, or tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs). Unless reasonably necessary to obtaining assistance, complainant PII and other identifying information will not be shared with private sector partners. The confidentiality of the complaint information you provide may be affected by differing state law. As such, we cannot guarantee that your complaint will remain confidential. The Hacks and Recovery Base does not decide which complaints will be actively investigated by any agency. The Hacks and Recovery Base cannot make any representations or guarantees as to the action that may or may not be taken on any complaint.
You may volunteer to provide us personal identifying information, for example your mailing address, by filing a complaint. Before you do so, you should know that various people might see the material you submit. We may enter the information into a database and we may share it with other agencies. Information collected may be used for responding to complaints, as well as other authorized purposes.
All network traffic is monitored to detect unauthorized attempts to upload or modify information, or to cause damage or engage in criminal behavior, in order to maintain site security and guarantee that this service is accessible to all users.
Sections 701 and 709 of Title 18, U.S. Code, govern the distribution and copying of site information. It is forbidden to use the FBI seal, the words "Federal Bureau of Investigation," the letters "FBI," or any imitation in a way that is reasonably likely to give the impression that such [activity]...is endorsed, approved, or authorized by the FBI.
We employ secure socket layer (SSL) encryption to safeguard the data you provide when you post a complaint.
Your supplied data is safely kept.
One or more of the following statutes permit the gathering of data on this form: 18 U.S.C. § 1028 (false documents and 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); and 28 U.S.C. § 533 (FBI authorized to collect and maintain identification, criminal information, 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.
The information collected is maintained in one or more of the following Privacy Act Systems of Records:
the FBI Central Records System, JUSTICE/FBI-002, notice of which was last published, in full, in the Federal Register at 63 Fed. Reg. 8671 (Feb. 20, 1998), and amended at 66 Fed. Reg. 8425 (Jan. 31, 2001); 66 Fed. Reg. 17200 (Mar. 29, 2001); and 82 Fed. Reg. 24147 (May 25, 2017);
the FBI Data Warehouse System, JUSTICE/FBI-022, notice of which was last published, in full, in the Federal Register at 77 Fed. Reg. 40631 (July 10, 2012), and amended at 82 Fed. Reg. 24151, 157 (May 25, 2017).
A "cookie" is a file placed on your computer's hard drive or in memory by a website that allows the site to monitor your use of the site, usually without your knowledge. Navigation through the "Complaint" section of our site requires the use of session cookies. This means that cookies are placed on your computer's memory during the time you are filing a complaint. These cookies are active only when a user is actually filing a complaint. Disabling cookies on your browser will prevent you from filing a complaint. Users of our site who do not file a complaint do not encounter session cookies.
The information collected may be disclosed in accordance with the Routine Uses referenced in the System of Records Notices, hyperlinked above, or as otherwise permitted by law. For example, in accordance with those Routine Uses, the FBI may disclose information from your complaint to appropriate federal, state, local, tribal or international law enforcement, regulatory agencies, and private sector partners, and may be disclosed to any Federal agency where the purpose in making the disclosure is compatible with the law enforcement purpose for which it was collected.
Prior to filing a complaint with the IC3, please read the following information regarding terms and conditions.
