How to Report a Website for Illegal Content: Agencies and Portals

To report a website for illegal content, file a complaint with the federal agency that handles that specific crime: child sexual exploitation goes to the NCMEC CyberTipline, internet fraud to the FBI’s IC3 portal, scams and deceptive business practices to the FTC, and illegal online drug sales to the DEA. Using the right portal puts your report in front of investigators who specialize in that crime instead of leaving it in a general intake queue, and gathering the URL, screenshots, and timestamps before you file makes the difference between a tip that moves and one that sits.

Match the Content to the Right Agency

Not everything offensive online is illegal, and the agency you pick should follow the category of crime.

Child sexual exploitation — any imagery or material depicting the sexual abuse of minors. Report to NCMEC’s CyberTipline. Federal law under 18 U.S.C. § 2258A requires electronic service providers to report this material, and the CyberTipline also takes reports from the public.¹
Internet fraud — phishing sites, fake storefronts, romance scams, investment fraud, business email compromise, ransomware, online extortion. Report to the FBI’s IC3. These schemes typically violate the federal wire fraud statute, which carries up to 20 years in prison.²
Scams and deceptive business practices — report to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
Illegal online drug sales — websites selling controlled substances without valid prescriptions, including overseas pharmacies. Report to the DEA. Using the internet to facilitate drug sales violates 21 U.S.C. § 843(b).³
Identity theft — sites harvesting or selling Social Security numbers, credit card data, or login credentials. Report to the FTC through IdentityTheft.gov, which also builds you a recovery plan.⁴
Non-consensual intimate images — actionable under a federal civil statute, 15 U.S.C. § 6851, and many state criminal laws.⁵
Human trafficking — content facilitating recruitment, transportation, or exploitation of people for forced labor or commercial sex.

If what you found looks criminal but doesn’t fit cleanly into a category, IC3 accepts complaints across a broad range of internet-enabled crimes. When in doubt, file there.

The Four Main Reporting Portals

NCMEC CyberTipline for Child Sexual Exploitation

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children operates the CyberTipline, created in 1998 to receive reports of suspected child sexual exploitation from the public and from providers.⁶ Submit a report at missingkids.org or call the 24-hour hotline at 1-800-843-5678. After NCMEC reviews the report, it forwards the information to the appropriate law enforcement agencies.¹

One warning before you do anything else: do not download, save, or screenshot child sexual abuse material, even to preserve evidence. Possessing it is a federal crime under 18 U.S.C. § 2252. A limited affirmative defense exists if you possessed fewer than three images, promptly reported to law enforcement, and either destroyed the material or gave law enforcement access to it.⁷ The safest approach is to record only the URL and report immediately.

FBI’s IC3 for Internet Fraud and Cybercrime

The Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov handles phishing, business email compromise, ransomware, tech support fraud, online extortion, and related crimes. The form asks for your contact information, any financial loss, details about the person or website (including URLs and IP addresses), and a written description of what happened.⁸ Fill every field you can. The completeness of your information directly affects whether the FBI can act on the complaint.

FTC for Scams and Deceptive Practices

For scam websites, deceptive business conduct, and unwanted commercial activity, the Federal Trade Commission takes reports at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. How much personal information you share is your choice, but more detail helps the FTC spot patterns.⁹ Reports feed into Consumer Sentinel, a secure database used by law enforcement across the country.

DEA for Illegal Online Pharmacies

Websites selling prescription drugs without a valid prescription, or selling outright illegal substances, go to the DEA at dea.gov/submit-tip. The form asks for the date and location you witnessed the activity and a description of what you saw.¹⁰ Contact information is optional.

Document the Site Before You File

A useful tip depends on what you can hand investigators. Gather this before you navigate away:

The full URL from the browser’s address bar, not just the domain. If the illegal content is buried deep, each page has its own URL.
Screenshots showing the content and the address bar in the same image. Safe for most categories. Not for child exploitation material.
The exact date and time you viewed the content. Investigators use timestamps to correlate server logs.
A plain-language description of what you saw, how you found the site, what it appeared to sell or display, and any visible usernames, business names, or contact information.
Financial details if you lost money: transaction dates, amounts, payment methods, account numbers, cryptocurrency transaction data. IC3 specifically asks for these.⁸

You can also save the page’s source code by right-clicking and choosing “View Page Source” in most browsers. That preserves embedded links, scripts, and metadata that may vanish if the site operator gets nervous. File once, complete. A report missing key details is easy to deprioritize.

What Happens After You Submit

Expectations first: IC3 does not conduct investigations itself and will not contact you. Its FAQ states plainly, “You will not hear from the IC3.”⁸ IC3 analysts review complaints, look for patterns across thousands of reports, and refer promising leads to FBI field offices or other agencies. Whether a case is investigated and prosecuted is up to the receiving agency.

NCMEC’s CyberTipline works differently. After review, NCMEC forwards reports to one or more law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, federal prosecutors, and relevant state or local agencies.¹ Child exploitation cases are treated as high priority and tend to move faster than general fraud complaints.

If your report leads to a federal prosecution, you may be eligible for updates through the Department of Justice’s Victim Notification System.¹¹ Beyond that, an individual report is a data point. Your tip may be what connects a pattern someone else already started.

Getting the Site Itself Taken Down

Filing a federal report addresses the criminal side. Getting the site off search engines or off the internet is a separate track, and you should pursue both.

Search Engine Removal

Google accepts requests to remove content from search results for legal reasons. You identify the Google product, select the reason, and provide the exact URLs along with an explanation of why the content violates the law.¹² Google has a separate process for removing personal content like private information, doxxing material, and images of minors.¹³ Google can only remove content from its own search results. The site itself keeps operating until its hosting provider acts.

Hosting Provider and Registrar Abuse Reports

Every website depends on a hosting provider that stores its files and a domain registrar that manages its address. To find them, use ICANN’s Lookup tool at lookup.icann.org. The results show the registrar’s name and, under Registrar Information, an abuse contact email address.¹⁴ Send a detailed abuse report to that address with the full URL, a description of the illegal content, and any documentation. Registrars must publish an abuse contact on their website and in WHOIS results. Give them time to investigate. If nothing happens, you can file a complaint directly with ICANN.¹⁵

If the Content Is Non-Consensual Intimate Images of You

You have legal and practical tools. Under 15 U.S.C. § 6851, you can sue someone who discloses your intimate images without consent, knowing or recklessly disregarding that you didn’t consent. Courts can order temporary restraining orders, preliminary injunctions, and permanent injunctions forcing the defendant to stop sharing the material.⁵

On the practical side, StopNCII.org creates a digital fingerprint (a hash) of your intimate images on your device. Only the hash is shared with participating technology companies, not the images. Those companies then use the hash to detect and remove matching content from their platforms.¹⁶ File abuse reports with each platform where the images appear, and use the personal content removal processes to get them out of search results.

Your Legal Position as a Reporter

Reporting Anonymously

You don’t have to identify yourself. The FBI’s electronic tip form states that you’re not required to give your name or personal information, though withholding it may slow or prevent an investigation.¹⁷ The DEA tip form treats contact information as optional.¹⁰ The trade-off is that investigators can’t come back to you for clarification.

Good-Faith Protection

Federal law under 47 U.S.C. § 230(c)(2) protects any user of an interactive computer service from civil liability for voluntarily taking good-faith action to restrict access to material they consider obscene, violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable.¹⁸ Flagging or reporting content in good faith won’t expose you to a lawsuit from the person who posted it.

False Reports

Knowingly filing a false report with a federal agency is a crime under 18 U.S.C. § 1001, carrying up to five years in prison.¹⁹ The DEA tip form includes an acknowledgment that false information can result in fines, imprisonment, or both.¹⁰ You don’t need to be certain the content was illegal to report it. You just can’t fabricate one to get someone in trouble. Honest mistakes made in good faith are not the same as intentional lies.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 2258A – Reporting Requirements of Providers
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1343 – Fraud by Wire, Radio, or Television
3
Federal Register. Dispensing and Purchasing Controlled Substances over the Internet
4
IdentityTheft.gov. Identity Theft Reporting and Recovery
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 6851 – Civil Action Relating to Disclosure of Intimate Images
6
MissingKids.org. CyberTipline Data
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 2252 – Certain Activities Relating to Material Involving the Sexual Exploitation of Minors
8
Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). Frequently Asked Questions
9
Federal Trade Commission. ReportFraud.ftc.gov
10
DEA. Submit a Tip
11
Office for Victims of Crime. Victim Notification
12
Google Help. Report Content for Legal Reasons
13
Google Search Help. Request to Have Your Personal Content Removed from Google Search
14
ICANN. Registrar Abuse Reports
15
ICANN. Submitting DNS Abuse Complaints to ICANN – A Step-by-Step Guide
16
StopNCII.org. Stop Non-Consensual Intimate Image Abuse
17
Federal Bureau of Investigation. Electronic Tip Form
18
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 47 USC 230 – Protection for Private Blocking and Screening of Offensive Material
19
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1001 – Statements or Entries Generally