LEEP Law Enforcement

It is an honor to help you with information to help you. The Office of the FBI does a great job with investigating Cyber crime and arresting those who commit such crimes. The following information came from the Website of the FBI.

IC3 Mission Statement

The mission of the Internet Crime Complaint Center, called IC3, is to provide the public with a reliable and convenient reporting mechanism to submit information to the Federal Bureau of Investigation concerning suspected Internet-facilitated criminal activity and to develop effective alliances with law enforcement and industry partners. Information is analyzed and disseminated for investigative and intelligence purposes to law enforcement and for public awareness.

Internet Crime Complaint Center, IC3

Supporting Law Enforcement

Since 2000, the IC3 has received complaints crossing the spectrum of cyber crime matters, to include online fraud in its many forms including Intellectual Property Rights ( IPR) matters, Computer Intrusions (hacking), Economic Espionage (Theft of Trade Secrets), Online Extortion, International Money Laundering, Identity Theft, and a growing list of Internet facilitated crimes. It has become increasingly evident that, regardless of the label placed on a cyber crime matter, the potential for it to overlap with another referred matter is substantial. Therefore, the IC3, formerly known as the Internet Fraud Complaint Center ( Internet Fraud Complaint Center), was renamed in October 2003 to better reflect the broad character of such matters having an Internet, or cyber, nexus referred to the IC3, and to minimize the need for one to distinguish “Internet Fraud” from other potentially overlapping cyber crimes

IC3 Database Remote Access
All sworn law enforcement can remotely access and search the IC3 database through the FBI’s

LEEP Law Enforcement Enterprise Portal

LEEP is a gateway providing law enforcement agencies, intelligence groups, and criminal
justice entities access to beneficial resources all in one centralized location. These resources
can be used to strengthen case development for investigators and enhance information
sharing between agencies. This web-based LEEP access additionally provides users the ability to
identify and aggregate victims and losses within a jurisdiction.

IC3 DATABASE

The IC3 expanded the remote search capabilities of the IC3 database by allowing users to
gather IC3 complaint statistics. Users now have the ability to run city, state, county, and
country reports and sort by crime type, age, and transactional information. The user can also
run overall crime type reports and sort by city, state, and country. The report results can be
returned as a portable document format (PDF) or exported to Excel. This search capability
allows users to better understand the scope of cyber crime in their area of jurisdiction and
enhance cases.

Successes

International Investment Scam: FBI Houston
Beginning in 2015, the IC3 provided multiple complaints to FBI Houston regarding an
elaborate investment scheme. The scheme involved the impersonation of Branch Banking &
Trust (BB&T) and JPMorgan Chase (Chase) executives, the fabrication of U.S. government
documents, the creation of fraudulent investment agreements in the name of BB&T and
Chase, and the purchase of luxury vehicles to launder the proceeds of the scheme. It was
perpetrated by individuals primarily living in West Africa, who impersonated U.S. bank
officials and financial consultants, and made fraudulent offers of investment funding to
victims all over the world via the Internet and phone. Victims were deceived into believing
they would receive millions of dollars of investment funding as part of joint ventures with
U.S. banks, usually BB&T or Chase. The perpetrators utilized false domain names to make it
appear their emails were affiliated with BB&T or Chase. To convince victims the
opportunities were authentic, the perpetrators recruited U.S. citizens to pose as bank
“representatives” at in-person meetings with the victims. If the victims lived outside the
U.S., the perpetrators orchestrated bogus visits to the local U.S. embassy or consulate and
fabricated U.S. government documents to convince the victims the U.S. government was
sponsoring the investment agreements. The victims were then induced to pay tens of
thousands, and often hundreds of thousands, of dollars to U.S.-based bank accounts on the
belief that such payments were necessary to effectuate their investment agreements.

2017 Internet Crime Report 8

Once the funds hit the U.S.-based accounts, money movers controlling the accounts used
various means to liquidate the proceeds and move the funds to West Africa, including
outgoing wire transfers to exporters, cash withdrawals, and the purchase of luxury vehicles
which were shipped to West Africa.

The scheme allegedly resulted in losses of more than $7 million from victims in more than 20
countries. To date, a house in Richmond, vehicles and approximately $200,000 in cash, all
directly traceable to victims’ payments, have been seized5.

Harassment/Extortion: FBI Los Angeles

Since October 2017, FBI Los Angeles has been investigating a reported intrusion of a
company’s network that also involved harassment and extortion by an unknown subject.
This individual continuously harassed the company with emails and phone calls that greatly
impacted the victim company’s business. The harassment continued until the company
agreed to make payments for the attacks to stop.

The case was initiated by an IC3 complaint sent to FBI Los Angeles. During the course of the
investigation, IC3 linked another complaint to the victim company and provided that
information to FBI Los Angeles as well. The information contained within the linked IC3
complaint was instrumental in providing probable cause for a search warrant and then used
in the interview of a subject, which ultimately led to a full confession.

Please go to the FBI Cyber Investigation Website for more help and information. www.fbi.gov

Thank you for reading this, we hope you find justice through the FBI if you have fallen victim to any of these crimes.

Hope for Children Foundation