The FTC’s consumer complaint phone number is 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357). It connects you to the Consumer Response Center, where staff take reports about fraud, scams, misleading advertising, unwanted telemarketing, and other deceptive business practices.1Federal Trade Commission. Contact The line is staffed on weekdays during regular business hours. If you are deaf or hard of hearing, the TTY number is 1-866-653-4261.
One thing to know before you call: the FTC logs your complaint and shares it with law enforcement, but it will not contact the company for you, mediate the dispute, or recover your money.2Federal Trade Commission. ReportFraud.ftc.gov – FAQ If you need someone to actually respond to your problem, a different agency is often the better call. More on that below.
Filing Online Is Usually Faster
The phone line and the online portal at ReportFraud.ftc.gov go to the same place. The online form is generally quicker because it walks you through the specific details the FTC wants: what happened, how you were contacted, and whether you lost money.2Federal Trade Commission. ReportFraud.ftc.gov – FAQ The portal is also available in Spanish.
You can also file by mail. Send a written description to: Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Response Center, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20580.1Federal Trade Commission. Contact Mail takes longer to process and lacks the structured format investigators find useful.
What to Have Ready Before You Call
The FTC does not require any specific documentation to take your report. Its guidance is to share as much or as little as you have.3Federal Trade Commission. FAQ More detail makes the report more useful for spotting patterns, so gather what you can:
- Dates and times of the contact, and when any money changed hands
- How you were reached: phone, email, text, social media, or in person
- Amount lost, payment method, and any transaction confirmation numbers
- Names, phone numbers, email addresses, and websites for the company or individual
- Receipts, emails, texts, and screenshots
The online portal does not accept file uploads, but you can paste the text of emails or messages into the comments field. Keep your originals. Law enforcement may ask for them later if an investigation opens.2Federal Trade Commission. ReportFraud.ftc.gov – FAQ For cryptocurrency losses, include wallet addresses and transaction details if you have them, since blockchain records can sometimes help identify the people involved.4Federal Trade Commission. What To Know About Cryptocurrency and Scams
What the FTC Actually Does With Your Report
Your complaint enters the Consumer Sentinel Network, a secure database used by more than 2,000 federal, state, local, and international law enforcement agencies at no cost.5Federal Trade Commission. Consumer Sentinel Network The FTC analyzes reports for patterns. When enough complaints point to the same company or scheme, the agency may bring a civil enforcement action.
Here is the piece that surprises people. The FTC will not resolve your individual complaint. It will not call the company on your behalf, negotiate a refund, or get your money back as part of processing your report.2Federal Trade Commission. ReportFraud.ftc.gov – FAQ Filing with the FTC feeds the bigger picture. That is genuinely useful, because large-scale fraud cases are built from individual complaints, but it is not personal recovery.
When the FTC does win an enforcement action, it uses the money collected from defendants to send refunds to consumers who were harmed. In most cases you do not have to file a separate claim. Court orders typically require defendants to hand over customer lists, and the FTC uses that data to distribute refunds automatically on a proportional basis.6Federal Trade Commission. Refund Programs: Frequently Asked Questions The amount depends on how much the FTC collects and how many people were affected. Over the last five years, more than 95% of money collected for refunds has gone back to consumers. Leftover funds go to the U.S. Treasury.
Identity Theft Has a Different Number
If someone has stolen your identity, do not use the general fraud line. Call the FTC’s Identity Theft Hotline at 1-877-438-4338, or use IdentityTheft.gov. The site walks you through a personalized recovery plan and generates a formal FTC Identity Theft Report with the FTC seal and a unique report number.7Federal Trade Commission. IdentityTheft.gov
That report matters. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, submitting one to a credit bureau triggers an extended fraud alert on your file for seven years and removes you from prescreened credit offers for five years. You are also entitled to two free copies of your credit report during the twelve months after the alert.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S. Code 1681c-1 – Identity Theft Prevention; Fraud Alerts and Active Duty Alerts
Unwanted Calls Have a Different Number Too
To add your number to the National Do Not Call Registry, call 1-888-382-1222 from the phone you want to register, or go to DoNotCall.gov. Registration is free. The TTY number is 1-866-290-4236. To remove a number, call 1-888-382-1222 from that phone. If you register online, click the confirmation link in your email within 72 hours.9Federal Trade Commission. National Do Not Call Registry FAQs
If unwanted calls keep coming after you register, report them at DoNotCall.gov with your phone number, the caller ID shown, any callback number, and the date and time. If you actually lost money to a caller, file at ReportFraud.ftc.gov instead, because that is fraud rather than a registry violation.
Steps That Cannot Wait for the FTC
Some recovery deadlines run on their own clock. If you miss them, the FTC report will not help you get your money back.
For credit card charges, the Fair Credit Billing Act gives you 60 days from the date your statement was sent to dispute an unauthorized or incorrect charge in writing with your card issuer.10Federal Trade Commission. Using Credit Cards and Disputing Charges Call the issuer immediately and follow up in writing.
For wire transfers, contact the bank or transfer company right away and ask for a reversal. Wires move almost instantly, and once the receiving bank processes the transfer, reversal becomes very difficult.2Federal Trade Commission. ReportFraud.ftc.gov – FAQ For MoneyGram, call 1-800-666-3947. For Western Union, call 1-800-325-6000.
For debit card and bank withdrawals, contact your bank as quickly as possible. Federal law ties your liability to how fast you report, and waiting more than 60 days after your statement can leave you on the hook for the full amount.
When Another Agency Is the Better Call
The FTC takes a wide range of complaints, but for some problems another agency will actually get you a response.
If your complaint involves a bank, credit card company, mortgage servicer, debt collector, credit reporting agency, student loan servicer, or similar financial product, start with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Unlike the FTC, the CFPB forwards your complaint directly to the company, which then has 15 days for an initial response and up to 60 days for a final response.11Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Your Company’s Role in the Complaint Process File at consumerfinance.gov/complaint or call (855) 411-2372.12Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Submit a Complaint
For internet-based crime like hacking, ransomware, online fraud schemes, and business email compromise, file with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov. File even if you are not sure your situation qualifies.
State attorneys general offices often do something the FTC does not: individual complaint mediation. Many will contact the business on your behalf and try to work out a resolution. The process depends on voluntary cooperation and the attorney general is not your lawyer, but the involvement of a state office motivates many businesses to settle disputes they would otherwise ignore. Search for your state’s attorney general consumer protection division to find the right form and number.