How to File a Federal Trade Commission Complaint

To file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, go to ReportFraud.ftc.gov or call 877-382-4357 on weekdays between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern. Filing is free, takes about 10 to 20 minutes, and you can do it anonymously. Set your expectations before you start: your report will not trigger an investigation into your specific dispute. It joins a national database that law enforcement agencies use to spot patterns and build cases against companies that generate large volumes of complaints.¹

Is the FTC the Right Agency for Your Complaint

The FTC enforces federal laws against unfair or deceptive business practices under Section 5 of the FTC Act.² It focuses on conduct that affects large numbers of consumers across state lines. Typical reports involve imposter scams, deceptive advertising, fake debt relief services, misleading health product claims, and violations of the Telemarketing Sales Rule.³

Some industries fall outside the FTC’s authority. Banks, credit unions, mortgage servicers, airlines, and telecommunications carriers each have their own regulators, and filing with the FTC about them delays any response. If your complaint fits one of those categories, skip ahead to the alternative agencies at the end of this article.

Choose the Right FTC Portal

The FTC runs three separate reporting sites. Each collects different information and produces different follow-up tools, so picking correctly matters.

ReportFraud.ftc.gov is the main portal for fraud, scams, deceptive practices, and unfair treatment by a company. Most consumer complaints belong here.
IdentityTheft.gov is for identity theft victims. Filing here generates a formal Identity Theft Report and a personalized recovery plan with pre-filled letters for credit bureaus, businesses, and debt collectors.⁴
DoNotCall.gov is for unwanted telemarketing calls if your number is on the National Do Not Call Registry.

If someone stole your identity, go straight to IdentityTheft.gov instead of ReportFraud. The Identity Theft Report you receive there carries legal weight a standard fraud report does not. It proves to businesses and credit bureaus that someone stole your identity and guarantees rights like the ability to block fraudulent debts from appearing on your credit report.⁵

What to Have Ready Before You Start

You can file with whatever you have. The FTC accepts partial reports. But the more specifics you provide, the more useful your report is to investigators searching the database later.

The company or person: full legal name, physical address, phone number, website, and any social media handles. Note every name the business operates under.
What happened: the dates or date range, how the company contacted you (phone, email, text, mail, in person), and a plain description of the conduct.
Financial loss: the dollar amount, how you paid (credit card, wire transfer, gift card, cryptocurrency), and any transaction reference numbers.
Supporting materials: contracts, receipts, emails, screenshots, and bank or credit card statements showing the charges.

One practical note: the ReportFraud portal does not accept file uploads. You cannot attach documents. Copy and paste key text from emails or messages into the comments field, and keep your original documents in case investigators contact you later.¹

Filing Online

At ReportFraud.ftc.gov, the site walks you through a series of plain-language questions. You select the type of problem, identify who contacted you and how, describe what happened, and enter any financial losses. No legal terminology required.

You can file anonymously. The FTC encourages contact information so investigators can follow up if they need more details, but it is not required.¹ If you provide an email address, the FTC sends you suggested next steps to protect yourself or recover from the fraud.

Review the summary screen for accuracy before you submit. You will receive a confirmation for your records. There is no deadline: the FTC accepts reports regardless of when the incident occurred. Reporting promptly still helps, both because fresh data is more actionable for investigators and because your bank or credit card issuer’s dispute windows are shorter than the FTC’s.

Filing by Phone

If you cannot use the online form, call the FTC’s Consumer Response Center at 877-382-4357. Representatives are available Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern. Phone filing is available in English and Spanish, and the FTC can accommodate other languages during the same hours.¹ Have your details ready before you call.

Identity Theft Has a Different Process

If someone opened accounts or made charges in your name, IdentityTheft.gov is the right site, and there are steps to take before you file.

First, contact the fraud departments at the companies where unauthorized accounts or charges appeared and ask them to close or freeze the accounts. Place a free fraud alert with one of the three national credit bureaus; that bureau must notify the other two. Pull your free credit reports at AnnualCreditReport.com and review them for anything you do not recognize.⁵

When you file at IdentityTheft.gov, the site produces a formal Identity Theft Report and builds a personalized recovery plan. Create a free account so you can track progress, update your plan as new fraudulent accounts surface, and reach the pre-filled letters for credit bureaus and businesses. Without an account, print and save everything immediately, because you will not be able to return to it.⁴

What Happens After You File

The FTC does not investigate individual complaints, mediate your dispute, or contact the company on your behalf. It cannot respond to each report or take action for individual consumers.¹ A complaint is not a lawsuit and does not open a case.

Your report enters the Consumer Sentinel Network, a secure database that held over 6.47 million reports as of 2024.⁶ Federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, along with select international authorities, search Sentinel to identify patterns and build cases against companies generating large volumes of complaints.⁷ A single report contributes to that pattern.

Because the FTC will not act on your individual dispute, treat the report as one step among several. Dispute unauthorized charges with your bank or credit card issuer. File a police report if you lost money. Contact your state attorney general’s consumer protection office. Those channels address your own situation in ways an FTC complaint cannot.

Getting Money Back Through the FTC

When the FTC wins an enforcement case, it sometimes recovers funds and distributes refunds to affected consumers. In 2024, the agency sent refund checks and electronic payments using defendant records in 26 cases and completed a claims process in 7 additional cases.⁸ The FTC identifies eligible consumers using defendant records, Consumer Sentinel data, and sometimes a public claims process. If an action results in a recovery, the agency tries to contact people who lost money, which is a good reason to include your contact information in your report even if you would otherwise file anonymously.

Privacy of Your Report

Your personal information in an FTC complaint is protected from public disclosure. Under FOIA Exemption 6, the FTC denies access to consumers’ names, addresses, and other identifying information when privacy interests outweigh the public interest in disclosure.⁹

Access to the Sentinel database is restricted to verified law enforcement members. A company you reported may receive your complaint data, but only after providing the FTC with confidentiality assurances. Credit reporting agencies get narrow access limited to verifying identity theft report numbers; they cannot see the content of your report. If Congress or the media request complaint data through FOIA, the FTC redacts personally identifying information before releasing anything.¹⁰

Do not fabricate or exaggerate. Knowingly making a materially false statement to a federal agency is a federal crime.¹¹

When to File With a Different Agency

Some complaints belong elsewhere, and going to the right agency the first time gets you a faster and more useful response.

Banks, credit cards, mortgages, student loans, credit reports, money transfers, payday loans, vehicle loans, or debt collection: file with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at consumerfinance.gov/complaint. Unlike the FTC, the CFPB forwards your complaint to the company and requires a response.¹²
Phone service, internet providers, cable billing, number porting, phone unlocking, or robocalls tied to your carrier: file with the Federal Communications Commission at consumercomplaints.fcc.gov.¹³
Airline service, baggage, or accessibility: file with the Department of Transportation’s Aviation Consumer Protection Division. Disability-related airline complaints must be filed within six months of the incident.¹⁴

If you want individual compensation rather than to report a pattern, small claims court is a separate option. Filing limits vary by state, typically between $2,500 and $25,000, and the process is built so you do not need a lawyer. Small claims and an FTC report are not mutually exclusive. Filing with the FTC helps other consumers; small claims addresses your own loss.

1
Federal Trade Commission. ReportFraud.ftc.gov – FAQ
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 45 – Unfair Methods of Competition Unlawful; Prevention by Commission
3
eCFR. 16 CFR Part 310 – Telemarketing Sales Rule
4
Federal Trade Commission. Identity Theft: A Recovery Plan
5
IdentityTheft.gov. IdentityTheft.gov – Recovery Steps
6
Federal Trade Commission. Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book 2024
7
Federal Trade Commission. Consumer Sentinel Network
8
Federal Trade Commission. How the FTC Provides Refunds
9
Federal Trade Commission. FOIA – Consumer Complaints – Exemption 6 and 21(f)
10
Federal Trade Commission. Sentinel Network Services Privacy Impact Assessment
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1001 – Statements or Entries Generally
12
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Submit a Complaint
13
Federal Communications Commission. FCC Complaints
14
eCFR. 14 CFR 382.159 – How Are Complaints Filed With DOT