Winthrop Harbor Police Cyber Crimes Unit

To report a crime in progress please call 911

If you have been the victim of a cyber crime there are several things you can do.

If the crime involves a minor (child under the age of 18 years old) including but not limited to solicitation of a minor, child pornography or similar, please contact your local law enforcement agency immediately.

If you are a resident of Winthrop Harbor, Illinois, please contact the police department dispatch center (847.872.2131) as soon as possible to report the crime. You may need to come to the police station, or an officer may be sent to you depending on the circumstances. If you reside in another jurisdiction you will need to contact your local law enforcement agency.

In order to properly investigate the crime, we need as much accurate information from you as possible including, but not limited to:

The nature of the crime (identity theft, computer fraud, etc)
Your name and contact information (address and telephone numbers)
Name, address and telephone numbers of the individuals or businesses involved
Relevant web and/or email addresses of the individuals or businesses involved
Specific details surrounding the crime
Any other information you feel is relevant

We will also need to gather evidence to substantiate the crime and to aid in the investigation. We cannot fully investigate a cyber crime based on your word only:

Depending on the type of crime, we made need access to you computer, or may need to take your computer into evidence, as soon as possible. Please contact us to determine if this step is needed. In most cases the computer or electronic device can be returned to you in a relatively short time.
Maintain copies of emails, receipts, invoices, communications or anything else relating to the crime being reported. Do not delete anything. Even with print outs of emails, pictures or other electronic files, we may need access to the originals to obtain further, hidden information or evidence.
If the crime involves child pornography, DO NOT make copies of the files. This in itself is a crime. CONTACT US IMMEDIATELY.

Once all of the information has been gathered we will begin an investigation that will entail reviewing the details as provided and any evidence obtained. Investigations of cyber crimes can be lengthy in time due to the nature of the crime and the various elements involved:

Quite often the suspect (if identified) can be in another part of the country, or even overseas in another country.
During the course of our investigation we must adhere to all jurisdictional boundaries, and involve other agencies as necessary. There are also different jurisdictional boundaries based on the particular crime that was committed that we need to take into account.
Often, additional evidence is located elsewhere, such as on a computer at your internet service provider or email host. This evidence also needs to be obtained and requires subpoenas and/or search warrants be issued in order to obtain it.

Throughout the course of the investigation you will be kept up to date by our investigators, along with any outcome of the investigation.

Internet Complaint Center (IC3)

Definition courtesy of the Internet Crime Compaints Center If you have been the victim of an Internet Crime and you have not filed a complaint with the Internet Complaint Center, you will probably be advised to do so by our investigators.

Please note: You do not have to be referred by the police department to file a complaint with IC3, you can file one on your own accord and it is highly recommended.

The IC3 is a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C), and the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) that serves as a central referral mechanism for complaints involving Internet related crimes.

You can file a complaint directly with the IC3 by clicking here


	NetSmartz NetSmartz 411	Current Alerts