You can report someone with a warrant anonymously by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS, submitting to a federal tip line, or using the P3 Tips smartphone app. These channels are built so law enforcement never learns your name, phone number, or IP address. You get a code number, and that code is the only thing tying you to the tip.
Where to Send the Tip
The right channel depends on who issued the warrant and how serious the underlying charges are.
Crime Stoppers
Crime Stoppers is the most widely available option. Call 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) to reach a local program, or submit online through your local chapter’s site. The program does not record caller ID, trace calls, or ask for your name. You are given a code number and password, and that code is how you check back on the tip or claim a reward later.
Federal Tip Lines
If the warrant is federal or the person is a fugitive, two agencies handle those cases directly. The U.S. Marshals Service is the primary federal agency for tracking fugitives and accepts tips through its online portal and at 1-877-WANTED-2.1U.S. Marshals Service. Tip Line The FBI takes tips at tips.fbi.gov and 1-800-CALL-FBI (225-5324) for federal crimes, terrorism, or anyone on the Most Wanted list.2Federal Bureau of Investigation. Contact Us
The P3 Tips App
The P3 Tips app (iOS and Android) sends anonymous tips directly to Crime Stoppers programs and law enforcement agencies. It supports text, photos, and video, and lets investigators send follow-up questions through your code number instead of your identity. You can also browse listed fugitives inside the app and submit on a specific case.3Google Play. P3 Tips
Local Police or Sheriff’s Office
Most departments accept anonymous tips through their non-emergency phone lines and websites. If you know which agency issued the warrant, going straight to that agency is often the fastest route. You are not legally required to give your name when you call in a tip.
What to Include so Officers Can Act
A tip without enough detail usually goes nowhere. The more concrete the information, the faster officers can plan an arrest.
- Full name or known aliases, matching the warrant if you can confirm it
- Physical description: height, weight, build, hair, facial hair, tattoos, scars
- Current location or routine — specific addresses and cross streets, not neighborhood names
- Vehicle make, model, color, and plate number
- Names or descriptions of associates, especially any with known addresses
- What the person was wearing when you last saw them
You do not need every item on that list. A confirmed current address or a reliable daily pattern (leaves for work at 7 a.m., drives a red pickup) can be enough. Vague guesses like “somewhere on the east side” or secondhand rumors do not help.
How Your Identity Stays Protected
The anonymity in these systems is structural, not just a promise. Crime Stoppers programs are set up so the organization itself cannot identify you: no caller ID, no stored IP addresses, no saved phone numbers. The code number you receive is the only thread connecting you to the tip. Online portals and apps encrypt data in transit, and the Electronic Communications Privacy Act makes intercepting electronic communications a federal crime carrying up to five years in prison.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 2511 – Interception and Disclosure of Wire, Oral, or Electronic Communications
Federal law backs the technical protections. The Privacy Act of 1974 lets agencies exempt investigatory records — including informant material — from disclosure when releasing them would expose a confidential source.5Department of Defense. The Privacy Act of 1974 (As Amended) FOIA Exemption 7(D) allows agencies to withhold any law enforcement record that could reasonably be expected to reveal a confidential source.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 U.S. Code 552 – Public Information; Agency Rules, Opinions, Orders, Records, and Proceedings The Supreme Court in Roviaro v. United States also recognized an “informer’s privilege” allowing the government to withhold the identity of people who report crimes, grounded in the public interest in keeping information flowing.7Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center. Roviaro v. United States, 353 U.S. 53 (1957)
If you want an extra layer, call from a payphone or use public Wi-Fi rather than a personal phone tied to your name. Crime Stoppers still won’t have your number, but the belt-and-suspenders approach is worth it when your safety is at stake.
How Follow-Up and Rewards Work Without a Name
Crime Stoppers cannot call you back — they don’t have your number. If investigators need more, they post follow-up questions inside the system. You check by calling back with your code number or logging into the app. The whole exchange happens without anyone learning who you are.
Many Crime Stoppers programs pay cash rewards for tips that lead to an arrest, commonly up to $1,000 for felony arrests. When your tip results in an arrest, the investigating agency confirms it in writing and a board approves an amount. You call back with your code, and if a reward has been approved you are told to pick up cash at a designated location, typically a bank, on a specific date. Your code number is the only identification required. No government ID, no name recorded, no tax form filed on your behalf.
When a Court Could Order Your Identity Revealed
Anonymity is well-protected during an investigation, but it is not absolute once a case reaches trial. The Sixth Amendment gives a criminal defendant the right to confront witnesses, and a judge can order disclosure if your testimony turns out to be essential to a fair trial. Under the Roviaro test, the court weighs the public interest in protecting sources against the defendant’s need to prepare a defense, looking at the charges, available defenses, and how central the informant would be as a witness.7Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center. Roviaro v. United States, 353 U.S. 53 (1957)
For a tip about an outstanding warrant, this scenario is unusual. You are providing a location for a person the court has already authorized officers to arrest. The arrest happens on the warrant and the officers’ own probable cause, not on your testimony. Disclosure orders typically come up when an informant participated in the underlying crime or was the sole witness to key events, not when someone phoned in an address.
Do Not File a False Tip
Anonymous reporting works because law enforcement trusts the pipeline. False tips carry criminal consequences. Knowingly making a false statement to a federal agency is a felony under 18 U.S.C. § 1001, punishable by up to five years in prison.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1001 – Statements or Entries Generally Under 18 U.S.C. § 1038, false information implying a serious crime carries the same five-year maximum, rising to 20 years if someone is seriously injured and up to life if someone dies as a result.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 1038 – False Information and Hoaxes Most states also charge filing a false police report as a misdemeanor, and some elevate it to a felony when the fabrication triggers a significant law enforcement response or is meant to help someone evade arrest.