How To Report Stolen Cryptocurrency: Getting back stolen crypto funds is not an easy task. Not doing it right can make it even more challenging. Whether your organization has fallen victim to a phishing scam, a compromised SMS Verification, a malware attack or a direct ambush on your very own hot wallet service, once successful, thieves will put a lot of effort into creating barriers between you and your precious crypto. To avoid getting caught, they may divide the stolen cryptocurrency into smaller chunks, may separate them and distribute them to multiple other hot and cold wallets, mix them and even transform them to different types of coins or tokens, all to make them harder to trace by trained certified cryptocurrency investigators in law enforcement and the private industry.
How to report and to whom?
You have three options.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the U.S. government aiming at protecting consumers and market competition by enforcing antitrust laws. One of its main purposes is to secure consumers against unfair and illicit practices in the marketplace. By visiting the dedicated website, you can provide the FTC with detailed information on your specific incident. In the case your business is not within the US, the gateway econsumer.gov is also available to receive your external report. Econsumer.gov is a partnership of multiple global consumer protection agencies on an international level.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is also an independent agency of the United States federal government. The agency is tasked to safeguard investors, ensure fair, regulated, and productive markets, and promote capital creation. The SEC also offers Whistleblower Awards and Protections to encourage everyone as well as the victims of ill-doing to proactively report any evidence or pieces of intelligence they have in relation to criminal incidents.
The SEC created an online application to facilitate the submission of complaints and reports along with the below guide to help clients identify the minimum information to share while filing a complaint or creating a report on an incident.
- Your full name and contact information, including mail and email addresses, and telephone numbers, although you may submit your tip anonymously if you choose;
- Contact information for any individual or company you mention in the tip or complaint, including their full name, mail and email addresses, and telephone numbers;
- A detailed description of the events or circumstances giving rise to your complaint – including who was involved in the conduct and how, why, and when the conduct occurred; and
- Any relevant documentation.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is one more independent agency of the US government focused on safeguarding the public from deception, manipulation, and abusive activities in the marketing of commodities and financial futures and options. In 2015, the CFTC took an initiative towards recognizing cryptocurrency and included it within definition for commodities extending from Bitcoin to other virtual currencies and assets under the U.S. Commodity Exchange Act (CEA). To submit your case to the CFTC, you must submit a Form TCR (Tip, Complaint or Referral) or a Complaint Form through the CFTC website.
What happens when you report cryptocurrency theft?
All reports go into FTC’s dedicated database ‘Consumer Sentinel’ which is accessible by a large number of federal, state and local law enforcement groups across the US. While the FTC may not resolve your report individually, it’s in your best interest if the agency has got enough information to provide to the law enforcers to solve the case and discover the identity of the culprit, thus retrieving the stolen funds. Instances of successful FTC operations are also available here.
By raising a Form TCR, you automatically opt in for a chance to earn commissions for participating in the resolution of an incident, up to 30% of the money collected with the help of your information. You may also receive anti-retaliation protections if applicable. The CFTC has also enabled informers who do not wish to be identified to share their information anonymously through a private and confidential program as long as a contact method is provided by the informant to the Division of Enforcement sector of the CFTC.
Conclusion
Reaching out to the regulatory bodies above and in your jurisdiction to report stolen cryptocurrency and the details of your incident tightens the ground on the ill doer. Having said that, reverting to the medium handling your assets as well as hiring an expert to carry out a thorough investigation on the incident has an incomparable value if you’re looking to multiply your chances of going back from flat broke to financially fortunate.
Blockchain Intelligence Group, a global technology company offering innovative search, analytics and risk-scoring technology solutions for the cryptocurrency marketplace offers crypto investigation services with complete forensic review with formal results. Our services are trusted globally by banks, crypto companies, law enforcement, fintechs, regtechs and governments.
How To Report Stolen Cryptocurrency
