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IC3 Database

FBI’s IC3 Database for Cryptocurrency Investigations

When a cryptocurrency account is frozen or seized, the government often claims that the wallet is connected to online fraud, money laundering, or a “pig-butchering” scam. One of the most important—but least understood—tools behind these accusations is the IC3 database, short for the Internet Crime Complaint Center, operated by the FBI.

The Internet Crime Complaint Center (“IC3”) operates as an intake portal for victims of internet crime, operatives as a massive pattern-recognition system. Investigators use IC3 to link victims to wallet addresses, communication methods, or behavioral “signatures” found in other cases. That data becomes a core component of blockchain tracing.

The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) is a national clearinghouse where victims of online fraud can report:

  • Cryptocurrency losses
  • Romance scams (“pig butchering”)
  • Social-media investment schemes
  • Phishing scams
  • Ransomware payments
  • Business email compromise (BEC) events

Most IC3 complaints contains the following information:

  • The victim’s narrative of how the crime occurred
  • Dates and amounts of cryptocurrency sent to the frauster
  • The specific wallet address where funds were delivered
  • Screenshots of messages
  • Phone numbers or WhatsApp numbers
  • Email addresses
  • Social media accounts used by scammers

IC3 shares this raw data with:

  • FBI field offices
  • U.S. Secret Service (USSS)
  • Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)
  • State and local law enforcement
  • Financial Crimes Task Forces

How Investigators Use IC3

While investigators might look at the the reports from victims, they also use pattern-matching tool. For example, a victim might report a wallet address to IC3. The database stores every wallet address mentioned in each complaint. Investigators can search the entire IC3 database by:

  • Wallet address
  • Phone number
  • Email address
  • Social media username
  • Payment platform
  • Narrative keywords

If a wallet shows up repeatedly in IC3 reports, it becomes marked as a “high-risk” address. Blockchain tracing software might then identify all wallets that previously touched the IC3-linked wallet for several hops back. Because cryptocurrency is fungible and payment paths often pass through shared liquidity pools, users with no connection to fraud can end up clustered with scam accounts simply because their wallet appeared on a pathway the investigator traced from an IC3-reported address.

The pattern evidence becomes the basis for seizure warrants. Investigators then claim:

  • “The target account is within X hops of wallets tied to several scam victims.”
  • “The wallet received funds from an address linked to a pig-butchering scheme.”
  • “Historical patterns suggest it is part of a fraud network.”

This is usually enough to obtain an ex parte seizure warrant, even if:

  • The account holder is innocent;
  • The funds are legitimate; and
  • The owner has no connection to the scam.

IC3 is a valuable tool for identifying online fraud, but when used in forfeiture investigations, it can sweep up completely innocent account holders for three main reasons:

  • Multiple victims may report scam addresses using the same liquidity pools
  • Legitimate wallets may naturally interact with these pools.
  • Blockchain “hops” do not reflect real-world relationships
  • A wallet may be 5 hops away from a scam address without the owner ever encountering a scammer

For these reasons, civil asset forfeiture attorneys must look carefully for IC3-based tracing that creates a “guilt by association” theory used to:

  • Freezing accounts
  • Seizing assets
  • Filing forfeiture complaints
  • Withholding crypto from legitimate owners

Experienced civil asset forfeiture attorneys analyze:

  • which IC3 complaints were used;
  • whether the wallet was truly connected or simply adjacent;
  • whether the tracing over-relied on “hops”;
  • whether liquidity pools or exchange wallets inflated the connection; and
  • whether IC3 reports were misinterpreted or misapplied.

By looking carefully at the allegations, we can often show:

  • IC3 victims have no connection to our clients
  • The wallet paths are coincidental, not criminal
  • Government tracing is speculative and overbroad
  • The innocent owner standard defeats the forfeiture theory

IC3 helps investigators find patterns, identify victims, and track large online fraud networks. But in cryptocurrency forfeiture cases, IC3 data is often used to:

  • Expand wallet clusters
  • Infer connections that don’t exist
  • Justify seizures based on pattern proximity rather than actual evidence

Understanding how IC3 works is crucial for defending innocent account holders whose funds are swept up by tracing methods that overreach. Learn more about seizures of assets and crypto for forfeiture by the FBI.

This article was last updated on Thursday, November 13, 2025.