Reporting a crime that happened on Reddit (UK and US)

If someone is in immediate danger, or a crime is happening right now, do not file a report online. Call the emergency number. In the UK that is 999. Police.uk lists the situations for 999 as “there is an immediate danger to life”, “someone is using violence or is threatening to be violent” and “a crime is happening right now, like a house burglary or a theft”. If you cannot speak, police.uk says you should still call 999 and follow its silent-call instructions.

In the US the IC3 website says: “If you or someone else is in immediate danger, please call 911 or your local police.” That includes a threat of violence that you believe is credible or imminent, such as a post saying someone will hurt a named person, or a hoax call that could bring armed police to a home.

For everything that is serious but not urgent, the sections below explain which route to use.

For non-emergencies police.uk says: “Call 101 for non-emergency enquiries.” Its Contact us page also has online forms for several categories that fit things that happen on social media: cyber crime, fraud or a scam; stalking or harassment; hate crime; and rape, sexual assault or another sexual offence. It states that “Your report will be dealt with by our control room in exactly the same way whether you report it online or call us.” You report to the force that covers where you live, and police.uk has a tool to find it. The site also warns when its online forms are down for maintenance and tells people to call 101, or 999 in an emergency, in the meantime.

Fraud has its own national service, called Report Fraud. If you remember it as Action Fraud, the old actionfraud.police.uk address now leads to the Report Fraud site. It describes itself as “the place to tell the police about cyber crime and fraud”, and you can report online or by phone on 0300 123 2040. It covers people in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. For Scotland its site says: “If you live in Scotland, please report via 101.” When you report you receive a police crime reference number, but its own page says: “Report Fraud do not investigate the cases and cannot advise you on the progress of a case.” It is run by the City of London Police and passes reports to the right place.

If you would rather not give your name, Crimestoppers lets you report a crime or suspicious behaviour anonymously, on 0800 555 111 or at crimestoppers-uk.org, according to police.uk.

For a crime that has already happened and is not an emergency, you can contact your local police department. Local police are usually the first point of contact for threats, stalking or harassment, and they can pass a case to state or federal agencies where that is appropriate.

For internet-enabled crime, the FBI runs the Internet Crime Complaint Center. Its site (ic3.gov) calls itself “the central hub for reporting cyber-enabled crime” and says it is run by the FBI. It says: “File a report to share information with the FBI. IC3 is the main intake form for a variety of complaints — everything from cyber-enabled frauds and scams to cybercrime — so file a report even if you are unsure of whether your complaint qualifies.” It is also honest about limits: “IC3 cannot respond directly to every submission”.

Two warnings from the same page. First, crimes against children go elsewhere: “Crimes against children should be filed with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.” Second, “Other types of crimes, such as threats of terrorism, should be reported at tips.fbi.gov.” The FBI's electronic tip form is at tips.fbi.gov. We could not retrieve the FBI's own pages on swatting or sextortion, so this guide does not summarise them; if you were swatted, call 911 or your local police first and tell them you believe the call was a hoax.

A scam to avoid: IC3 warns that scammers impersonate it. It says: “The IC3 will never directly contact you for information or money.” If someone claims to be from IC3 and asks for money to recover funds, do not pay.

Police can act faster on a clear, organised report. The template below is built so you can paste it into an online form or hand it over in person. Keep your own account safe too: change your password and turn on two-factor authentication if the person has had access to any of your accounts.

Avoid the things that make cases harder. Do not reply to threats, try to trap the person, or contact their friends or family. Do not post their suspected name, workplace or address. Even if you are sure, you may be wrong, and publishing it can put you at legal risk. Pass your suspicion to the police instead and let them verify it.

A common misunderstanding is that a victim can ask Reddit who is behind a username. Reddit's published guidance for law enforcement shows why that is not how it works. It opens: “These guidelines are for law enforcement and government agencies only.” It also says that for requests from non-government parties there are separate civil guidelines, which a lawyer would use in a private legal claim. This guide is about the police route.

For police, Reddit sets out what it will disclose and when. It says: “Reddit will only disclose Basic Subscriber Information (see above) to law enforcement in response to a subpoena, court order, or other valid legal process, or in response to a valid Emergency Disclosure Request.” Basic subscriber information includes the username, IP logs, email and phone number where they exist, and payment information where any. Other records need stronger legal process, and the contents of private communications are disclosed only “pursuant to a valid search warrant or as otherwise authorized by relevant law”.

There is also an emergency route. Reddit “may disclose limited account information to law enforcement without legal process if Reddit has a good faith belief that disclosure is necessary to prevent imminent death or serious bodily harm to a person.” Reddit adds: “Reddit does not commit to producing records under any set of circumstances or within a particular timeline.”

Timing can matter. Reddit says it preserves records on a law-enforcement preservation request for 90 days by default, extendable for another 90, and that it “automatically deletes any IP addresses collected after 100 days, except for the IP address used to create an account”. It also says it “generally collects minimal information from users and may have little or no non-public information available for many accounts”. That is a reason to report promptly, and a reason not to expect that police will always be able to identify someone.

If the person is abroad, the process is slower. Reddit says it “may disclose account information in response to legally valid requests that are properly issued via the relevant international procedures for obtaining records”, such as a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty or letters rogatory, “upon proper service of process”, which is not a promise to hand anything over. It also says that account requests must be directed to Reddit, Inc. in San Francisco or Reddit Netherlands B.V. in Amsterdam.

If someone is threatening to share intimate images of you unless you pay or send more, treat it as a crime, stop engaging, and report it. Keep the text of the messages, the usernames, the web addresses and the dates and times, and do not delete the conversation. If the images show anyone who is or may be under 18, including you when the image was taken, do not screenshot, download, save, copy or forward the images, and do not send them on to anyone; for young people being blackmailed, NCMEC advises blocking the suspect but says “DO NOT DELETE your profile or messages”. In the US, IC3 is the FBI's intake for cyber-enabled crime, and anything involving someone under 18 should go to NCMEC. NCMEC runs Take It Down, which it describes as “a free service that can help you remove or stop the online sharing of nude, partially nude, or sexually explicit images or videos taken of you when you were under 18 years old.” You can use it anonymously, and it works on “public or unencrypted online platforms that have agreed to participate”. We have not confirmed that Reddit participates. For images from when you were 18 or older, Take It Down points to stopncii.org.

In the UK, Report Remove from Childline and the Internet Watch Foundation is “here to help young people under 18 in the UK to confidentially report sexual images and videos of themselves and remove them from the internet.” For adults, the Revenge Porn Helpline is “a UK service supporting adults (aged 18+) who are experiencing intimate image abuse”, and lists webcam blackmail (sextortion) among the problems it can help with. It does not replace the police: it says it cannot “undertake criminal investigations or report to the police on the victim's behalf”.