Detailed walkthrough of filing a phone scam complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, including what information to gather.
You should file an FTC report when: you received a call from someone impersonating a government agency (IRS, SSA, Medicare, FTC, FBI); you received a robocall selling products or services to a phone number registered on the Do Not Call registry; a caller used false or misleading statements to try to sell you something; a caller threatened legal action, arrest, or other consequences to pressure you into paying; you lost money or provided personal information during a phone scam; or a caller used caller ID spoofing to make their number appear to be from a legitimate organization. You don't need to have lost money to file — the FTC explicitly wants reports of attempted scams because call pattern data from reports helps identify and shut down scam operations before they affect more victims.
The FTC does not investigate individual cases or contact individual victims to help them recover their money — it's important to have accurate expectations about what reporting accomplishes. The FTC is a law enforcement agency and regulatory body that uses aggregated complaint data to identify patterns, build cases against large-scale operations, and take enforcement action that can result in civil penalties, injunctions, and disgorgement of ill-gotten gains. Individual reports are the raw material for this aggregate analysis. Cases like the FTC's 2023 action against a robocall operation that placed over 1 billion calls resulted in a $299 million judgment — possible only because thousands of individual complaint reports established the pattern. Your report helps build these cases even if you never hear back about it directly.
For immediate help recovering money or dealing with identity theft after a scam, resources beyond the FTC include: IdentityTheft.gov for identity theft recovery, your state attorney general's consumer protection division for state-level assistance and sometimes direct victim services, the CFPB (consumerfinance.gov/complaint) for financial institution-related fraud, and the AARP Fraud Helpline (1-877-908-3360) for personalized fraud counseling. These resources provide the individualized help that the FTC's aggregate enforcement role doesn't include.
Before starting your FTC complaint, gather as much of the following information as possible. The more detail you provide, the more useful your report is for enforcement purposes. Essential information: the phone number that appeared on your caller ID (even if you suspect it was spoofed), the date and approximate time of the call, whether it was a live person or a robocall/prerecorded message, what the caller claimed about who they were and why they were calling, and what they asked you to do or provide. If you lost money: the exact amount, the payment method (gift card brand and denomination, wire transfer amount and destination, cryptocurrency type and amount), and any payment reference numbers or transaction IDs you have.
Additional details that strengthen the report: any callback number the caller provided (different from the caller ID number), any name or title the caller claimed (e.g., "Agent Michael Torres, badge number 7743"), any company or agency name the caller claimed to represent, any case numbers or reference numbers the caller provided, the specific threat or offer made, and whether the caller instructed you to keep the call secret or not to tell your bank. If you have a voicemail recording of the call, note that you have it — the FTC may be able to use voice recordings in enforcement actions, and some state attorneys general actively request call recordings for prosecution.
Screenshots and documentation of any associated text messages, emails, or websites the caller directed you to are also valuable to note in your report. If the scam also involved any written communication (a letter, a text, an email), note this in the "how were you contacted" section of the report. Caller ID screenshots from your phone (most smartphones allow a screenshot of the incoming call screen or the recent calls list showing the number and time) can be particularly useful. You don't need to have all of this information to file a report — even basic information (the number, the date, what the caller claimed) is valuable and should be submitted.
Go to ReportFraud.ftc.gov — this is the official FTC consumer fraud reporting portal. You'll see options for different types of fraud; select "Phone Call" or "Impersonation" as appropriate. The portal is organized around the type of problem: if you were called about fake prizes, select "Sweepstakes and Lotteries"; if the caller impersonated the IRS or SSA, select "Impersonation"; if you received a robocall to a Do Not Call registered number, select "Unwanted Calls, Emails, and Texts." Selecting the right category helps the FTC route your complaint to the appropriate enforcement division.
On the next screen, you'll be asked about what happened — use this field to provide the details you gathered above. The FTC's system accepts free-text descriptions, so write what happened in your own words. Include the specific dollar amount if any money was lost, or note "no financial loss" if you didn't lose money. If you have multiple calls to report (the same or similar scammers calling repeatedly), file a separate report for each call with the specific date and number for each. When prompted, provide your contact information — this is optional but enables the FTC to contact you if they need additional information for an enforcement case. Your contact information is protected under the FTC Act and Privacy Act; it's not public information.
After submission, you'll receive a confirmation number. Save this confirmation number — it's your record that you filed and may be requested if you follow up or if you need to provide documentation for other reporting purposes. The entire process takes about 5-10 minutes. You can also report by phone to the FTC Consumer Response Center at 1-877-382-4357 (1-877-FTC-HELP) if you prefer phone reporting. TTY users can call 1-866-653-4261. The FTC also accepts reports through ReportFraud.ftc.gov in Spanish (the site has a Spanish-language option) and several other languages through translated interfaces.
FTC reports enter the Consumer Sentinel Network — a secure online database accessible to over 3,000 federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies across the US and internationally. Law enforcement investigators use Consumer Sentinel to identify complaint patterns, connect related complaints about the same number or organization, and build cases against high-volume scam operations. The same phone number reported by 500 different consumers across 20 states creates a very different enforcement picture than a single complaint, which is why volume of reporting matters even when individual complaints don't generate individual responses.
The FTC uses Consumer Sentinel data to identify enforcement priorities, build cases for injunctions and civil penalties, and publish data about fraud trends in the FTC's annual Consumer Sentinel Network report (available at ftc.gov/reports/consumer-sentinel-network). When the FTC takes an enforcement action, it may involve return of money to victims through redress programs. If you've reported a fraud and the FTC later takes action against the same scammer that results in a redress fund, you may be eligible for a payment — these are administered through the FTC's refunds program at ftc.gov/refunds. Not every enforcement action results in consumer redress, and not every victim receives payment, but reporting is the prerequisite for any possible eligibility.
For fraud involving potential criminal violations (wire fraud, bank fraud, elder financial abuse), the FTC refers relevant cases to the FBI's IC3 (Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov) and to DOJ prosecutors. Filing separately at IC3.gov covers the criminal referral pathway in addition to the FTC's civil enforcement pathway. State attorney general offices often act more quickly than federal agencies on local cases — if you know your state AG's office has an active consumer protection division (most do), filing there in addition to the FTC provides a parallel enforcement channel. The National Association of Attorneys General consumer protection directory at naag.org/find-my-ag lists all state AG consumer protection offices with contact information.
The FTC is the primary federal agency for phone scam reports, but other agencies have complementary jurisdiction and should receive reports in specific circumstances. The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) at consumercomplaints.fcc.gov handles complaints specifically about: robocalls in violation of the TCPA, caller ID spoofing (illegal under the Truth in Caller ID Act), Do Not Call violations (concurrent jurisdiction with the FTC), and telephone carrier service complaints. File with the FCC in addition to the FTC if your complaint involves robocalls, spoofed caller ID, or a carrier that failed to respond to a port-out or SIM swap complaint.
The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) at ic3.gov handles reports involving potential federal crimes. File with IC3 if: you lost money through wire transfer or cryptocurrency to a scammer; a scam involved computer fraud elements (remote access to your device, online account takeover); the scam appears to involve organized criminal operations crossing state or national borders; or the fraud involves financial institutions in a way that may constitute federal bank fraud. IC3 complaints can trigger FBI investigation and coordination with international law enforcement partners through Interpol and bilateral law enforcement agreements — particularly relevant for scams originating from India, West Africa, or Eastern Europe.
Your state attorney general's consumer protection division has authority to investigate state law violations concurrent with FTC jurisdiction, and many state AGs move more quickly on local cases than federal agencies. Find your state AG at naag.org/find-my-ag. If you're a senior (60+) who has experienced financial fraud, the DOJ's National Elder Fraud Hotline (1-833-FRAUD-11, available Monday-Friday 10am-6pm ET) provides direct assistance and can help navigate the multi-agency reporting landscape. If your complaint involves the misuse of your Medicare number or Medicare-related fraud, report to the Office of Inspector General's fraud hotline at 1-800-HHS-TIPS (1-800-447-8477). If Social Security-related, report to SSA's OIG at 1-800-269-0271.
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