How to Contact Your Local FBI Office by Phone or Online

To contact your local FBI office, call 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324), submit a tip online at tips.fbi.gov, or look up your field office at fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices to call it directly or visit in person during business hours. All three channels feed into the same intake system, so pick the one that fits your situation. If you are in immediate danger or watching a crime happen, call 911 or your local police first. The FBI is not an emergency responder.¹

Find the Field Office That Covers Your Area

The FBI runs 56 field offices in major metropolitan areas across the United States and Puerto Rico, plus more than 350 smaller satellite offices called resident agencies scattered through smaller cities and towns.²³ Each field office covers a defined geographic territory, and its resident agencies extend that reach into surrounding communities.

Go to fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices. You’ll see a map of all 56 divisions. Click your state or city and you’ll get the office’s address, phone number, and the counties or territories it covers. One catch: your city may fall under a nearby field office’s area of responsibility rather than the one geographically closest, so check the map instead of guessing.

If you don’t live near a major city, look for the closest resident agency. Special agents there work under the parent field office, and you can report a federal crime at either location. The office with jurisdiction is generally the one covering where the crime happened or where you live.

Phone, Online, or In Person

Each of the three contact channels has its own rhythm.

By phone. The main tip line, 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324), runs around the clock. It handles tips on major cases and reports involving chemical, biological, or radiological threats. To reach a specific field office, use the direct number listed on its page at fbi.gov.

Online. The tip form at tips.fbi.gov lets you submit a written report of federal criminal activity or information about terrorist threats. It’s a free-text narrative where you describe what happened in your own words.⁴ You aren’t required to give your name or personal details, but leaving them out may slow down any investigation because agents can’t reach you for follow-up.⁵

In person. You can walk into any FBI field office during regular business hours. Federal buildings require security screening and government-issued identification. Check in at the front desk and explain why you’re there.

Phone works best when the situation is time-sensitive or when you’d rather talk than type. The online form works well when you have detailed information, digital evidence, or a longer story to lay out clearly. An in-person visit makes sense when you have physical documents to hand over or when you’d rather speak face-to-face with an agent.

The FBI Investigates Federal Crimes

Before you call, it helps to know whether your situation is in the bureau’s lane. The FBI investigates violations of federal law that haven’t been assigned to another agency.⁶ That’s broad, but it doesn’t include most everyday crimes like burglary, assault, or car theft, which go to local or state police.

Common federal matters the FBI handles include terrorism, espionage, public corruption, bank and wire fraud, civil rights violations including hate crimes, organized crime, drug trafficking, kidnapping across state lines, and cybercrime.⁷ If you aren’t sure whether something qualifies, report it anyway. The FBI routinely receives tips it forwards to the right agency, and you won’t get in trouble for reporting something that turns out to fall outside federal jurisdiction.

Internet Crimes Go to IC3, Not the Tip Line

For internet-based fraud and cybercrime, the FBI directs you to a separate portal: the Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov.⁸ The tip form at tips.fbi.gov itself tells users to file cyber-enabled scams and online fraud there instead.⁵

An IC3 complaint asks for your contact information, financial details (account numbers, transaction dates, amounts, and how money was sent, including specific transaction identifiers for cryptocurrency), the subject’s name, email, website, phone number, or IP address, a clear description of what happened, and any email headers pasted directly into the form. IC3 does not accept file attachments.⁹

One thing to know before you hit submit: IC3 does not send a copy of your complaint or a confirmation email. Print or save your report immediately when you finish. If you need to add information later, file a new complaint and note that it supplements the previous one.⁹

Two categories don’t go to IC3. Crimes against children should be reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and threats of terrorism go to tips.fbi.gov.⁸

What to Have Ready Before You Report

FBI analysts assess every tip for credibility and specificity before deciding whether to open an investigation.⁴ Vague reports are harder to act on. Before you make contact, gather:

Full legal names and any known aliases of the people involved.
Dates and locations, as specifically as you can pin them down.
Digital evidence for online activity: URLs, app names, usernames, and the dates and times of relevant posts or messages.⁵
Financial records: transaction IDs, account numbers, and amounts if money changed hands.
Your own clear, factual timeline of what happened. Stick to what you observed or can document.

Keep copies of everything you submit. If an agent follows up weeks later, you’ll want your own records to reference. Don’t worry about legal terminology or getting every detail perfect. Be specific and honest.

On the honesty point: knowingly submitting false information to the FBI is a federal crime. Under 18 U.S.C. § 1001, making a false statement to a government agency carries a penalty of up to five years in prison.¹⁰ That isn’t meant to scare off good-faith reporters who get a minor detail wrong. It targets people who deliberately fabricate.

Reporting Anonymously

You do not have to identify yourself. The online tip form states plainly that you’re not required to provide your name or other personal information.⁵ The tradeoff is equally plain: without your contact details, agents can’t reach you for follow-up questions, and that may slow down or prevent an investigation. If you’re worried about retaliation, anonymity may be worth the tradeoff. If your report needs clarification to move forward, giving contact information makes a real difference.

What Happens After You Report

Your tip goes to the Public Access Center at FBI Headquarters. Analysts review each submission for credibility by checking internal and external databases and assessing whether the information points to real criminal or national security activity.⁴ Tips that pass initial screening are routed to the appropriate FBI field office or to local law enforcement for follow-up.¹¹

The FBI does not guarantee a response to every submission. If agents find your information actionable, someone from the local field office may contact you for a follow-up interview, though timing varies widely depending on the nature and urgency of the report. Silence isn’t a sign your tip was ignored. The bureau processes an enormous volume of tips daily, and many lead to investigations that never produce a callback to the original reporter.

If you submitted online, save the confirmation page or reference number. That’s your only proof of submission and your reference point if you need to follow up. For IC3 complaints, print the final screen before closing it, because no confirmation email is sent.

1
Federal Bureau of Investigation. Contact Us
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Federal Bureau of Investigation. Field Offices
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FBIJOBS. FBI Locations
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Federal Bureau of Investigation. Inside the FBI’s Internet Tip Line
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Federal Bureau of Investigation. Electronic Tip Form
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eCFR. 28 CFR Part 0 Subpart P – Federal Bureau of Investigation
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United States Department of Justice. Partial List of Federal Matters Investigated by the FBI
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Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). Internet Crime Complaint Center
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Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). Frequently Asked Questions
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1001 – Statements or Entries Generally
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Federal Bureau of Investigation. FBI Tip Line Receives Actionable Tips Daily