You’d think scammers would steer clear of impersonating the FBI, right? Not a chance. The FBI recently issued a warning that cybercriminals are spoofing the FBI’s own Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) website—the very place people are supposed to go to report scams. The irony writes itself.
I’ve written multiple articles that link to the FBI IC3 website so it’s important that you know what is real and what is not. Here’s how it works: scammers set up a fake site (known as spoofing) that looks almost identical to the real IC3.gov page. From there, they trick visitors into sharing personal details, downloading malware, or even paying bogus “processing fees.” Because the design looks official and carries the FBI’s name, many people let their guard down.
The real IC3 site is simple: it never asks for money. Some of the spoofing sites used names like ic33 or ic3a with the .gov extension. If you land on a site that looks suspicious, double-check the URL before clicking anything. Better yet, link from my website or type “ic3.gov” directly into your browser instead of relying on links in emails or texts.
The fact that scammers are bold enough to copy the FBI’s cybercrime hub is a reminder that no brand—even one with badges and three letters—is immune to spoofing. And in case you are new here, here are my previous articles that reference the FBI:
- $19,372 average lost via internet crimes in 2024
- FBI alert for home internet routers
- FBI warning: BADBOX 2.0 botnet on your IoT home devices
- FBI warning: Criminals posing as health insurers / authorities
- FBI warning: Phantom Hacker Scam
