How to report "cyber" crime?

[vash]

I run a forum myself. Ever since a month or two ago, it has been spammed by ... (not) normal bots, but some bots offer "quality fake ID, fake passport" etc. Sometimes multiple bots got through my anti-spam and posted dozens of same messages all over my forum on a single day. I was banning left and right as soon as I see them. But they just keep coming back with new email, IP, etc. Sometimes it happens every a few days, sometimes it happens every day. I am sick tired of it!

While I am not sure if regular spam is illegal, but I am pretty sure offering "quality fake ID, fake passport" is a crime.
While my web site is based in the US with my US based address, I am currently on a long business trip abroad.
How should I report this? Who should I report it to?

 

[GemmaRowlands]

I see that type of thing posted on a lot of forums that I visit, but I have never been able to report it to anybody before, because the fact is that although what they're offering might well be illegal, they cannot really do anything about it because of the simple fact that they have so many other things that they need to be doing. They just don't have the hours in the day to be able to focus on things like this, even though they should.

Instead, why not try setting up filters on your forum? Firstly, make sure that all new accounts need to be validated, as that stage in the sign up process can send a lot of people away as they don't have the energy for it, it's too much effort for them. In addition, you could set up certain phrases so that your forum stops those types of posts from being live on the forums. If you see that they are posting the same things all of the time, then setting your forum to block any repeat posts would help.

If you do an internet search for this, including the type of forum that you run, you should be able to find a way that you can do this quite easily.

 

[Rosyrain]

Certain forums that I belong to require me to actually go into my email and confirm my account so this may help out your efforts in reducing the spam that makes it to your forum. I have seen a lot if these threads on some forums I am a member of and it is rather annoying have to sift through these to get to the real threads to chat on. I do ignore the spam ones when I see them and do not bother to click.

 

[GlacialDoom]

I would suggest setting up a filter. If you would set up a captcha as a requirement to post on your forum, your problems will most likely be gone, as those spam messages are generated by bots, and they can't pass captcha verification.

 

[Rainman]

I don't think you can report spam because technically it's not a crime. Again, the fact that someone is advertising something illegal is no crime in itself unless someone has actually paid for fake passports after they saw the ad posted on your site. Nonetheless if you wish to proceed with [it], then visit the site linked to below:

Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) | Home

The IC3 accepts online Internet crime complaints from either the actual victim or from a third party to the complainant.

 

[Gabe]

I've seen these and they are annoying, but they are not a crime but offer a service which if provided would be a criminal offense. You could report their IP address and get them banned, but to be honest there are so many of these spammers, it may be best to block the IP address and make a note of it as they is nothing the authorities can do unless someone actually does buy the product.

 

[OMGnoWAY]

You could try auto-banning posts with certain words or phrases. I don't think your forum should be hurt too much by NO ONE (human or bot) being able to post about fake ids.

You could also try requiring a user to fill out a captcha if they post more than a certain frequency (2 posts in 10mins for example). Put up a notice on your site apologizing but saying it is necessary. I'm sure people will think that the good outweighs the bad and not even mind.

 

[Lizel]

I would suggest setting up a filter. If you would set up a captcha as a requirement to post on your forum, your problems will most likely be gone, as those spam messages are generated by bots, and they can't pass captcha verification.

Exactly what you said, just set a captcha verification or a question verification or both of them and get your forum secured.

 

[donnalynn47]

Cyber crime is on the rise. I saw the news where it's going to be as bad as real life crime within the next twenty years are so.

 

[dyanmarie25]

Just like you, I'm also clueless about how and who to report this kind of cyber crime. You don't have enough identifications of people you are going to report, since they are using fake IDs and fake passports. That's really a difficult thing to handle.

 

[JoanMcWench]

I think it's great that you guys are giving suggestions as to how he can stop bots from posting on the forum but I think the issue is a tad more involved than that. It IS illegal to offer to provide fake IDs or passports. However, are you sure that this isn't just a tactic to get them to click the link?

 

[OGRICHBOI]

I am not sure if spam is a crime per-say, however you could take some preemptive measures to prevent spam from littering your forum. As other users have states, a CAPTCHA is a great idea, because some of these bots are not as advanced to get past this. Other than that, try making your account registration a little more difficult.

 

[vash]

Sorry guys. I am not asking for anti-spam methods here. Aside the fact I already do require new sign ups to confirm their email address by sending them confirmation links to their emails... It doesn't stop the spam.

I suspect the (same) guy spammed my forum manually. Since most of the other spams would only register a few seconds of "total online time". All his accounts have registered several minutes of online time at least. It could mean he was doing it (not through a bot) but by himself manually, which explains how he got through all my anti-bot plugins.

That's been said, I am not here to ask for anti-bot / anti-spam methods.
Especially when dealing with manual spam, I believe the best way to stop it is to go for the source.


I believe selling fake ID and fake passports is against law in every country on this planet. If the guy is in jail, he can't spam me any more.
So how can I report it? I suspect the guy isn't from the US, but can I report it at all to the cops in the US? How? Since I am abroad at this moment.

 

[admin]

Selling fake Government issued ID's are illegal in the United States. You can alert the FBI and local law enforcement.

 

[Whitewolf2578]

First Cyber Sex, Now Cyber Crime. What we should do is contact Skynet, as they may be a small company now, but soon they will rise up and take over the world. Cyber Crimes are really not that bad, what is bad is the people falling for their offers. Those people need to be arrested for not having common sense.

 

[RingoBerry]

Wow that is alarming although I have yet to see anything like that in forums I have joined. I am quite sure though that authorities may have been approached by people going through a similar situation and with that said, its highly possible that direct you or even help you contact the proper people for your problem. In my opinion, its best to do it right away before someone else assumes that you're actually allowing those shady advertisements on your site.

 

[shilpa123]

I am clueless on how to report cyber crimes. It happened everywhere and we know quite a lot about it but the thought of reporting it never occurred to me. I am sure to google about it more and let you know if i come to know.