Category: FBI

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI Crime News (b)

PITTSBURGH, PA—FBI Pittsburgh is now offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to the recovery of a weapon stolen from a government vehicle. The FBI vehicle was stolen Tuesday around 1:30 p.m. from Schenley Park. The FBI’s Violent Crimes Task Force, in partnership with Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, are devoting significant resources to locate the weapon, a Glock 19M 9mm, and remove it from the possession of the untrained individual(s) who may have it. All area law enforcement agencies were quickly notified of the theft and are assisting the FBI as warranted. Anyone with information should call FBI Pittsburgh immediately at 412-432-4000.

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI Crime News (b)

Welcome to the Oregon FBI’s Tech Tuesday segment. Today: Building a digital defense against crypto romance scams.

The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center is seeing a rapid rise in the number of people who are falling victim to a new-style romance fraud. In just the first seven months of this year, more than 1,800 people have reported online romance scams resulting in losses of about $133 million.

Romance frauds have been around for a long time, and they usually start in the same way. The scammer’s initial contact is typically made via dating apps or other social media sites. The scammer gains the confidence and trust of the victim—convincing the victim that their virtual love match is the real deal.

The new twist comes when the bad actor claims to be an expert cryptocurrency investor. He offers to help the victim make big money, too. Once the victim invests, the scammer allows the victim to withdraw a small amount of profit from the alleged account.

After the successful withdrawal, the scammer instructs the victim to invest larger amounts of money, and he often pushes the victim to “act fast.” When the victim is ready to withdraw funds again, the scammer creates reasons why this can’t happen. He tells the victim that there are additional taxes or fees that need to be paid, or the minimum account balance has not been met. This entices the victim to provide additional funds. Sometimes, a “customer service group” gets involved, which is also part of the scam.

The harassment—and the “relationship”—usually end once the victim stops sending funds.

Here’s how to protect yourself:

• Never send money, trade, or invest based on the advice of someone you have only met online.
• Don’t talk about your current financial status to unknown and untrusted people.
• Don’t provide your banking information, Social Security Number, copies of your identification or passport, or any other sensitive information to anyone online or to a site you do not know is legitimate.
• If an online investment or trading site is promoting unbelievable profits, it is most likely that—unbelievable.
• Be cautious of individuals who claim to have exclusive investment opportunities and urge you to act fast.

If you are the victim of any online fraud, you should report the incident to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov or call your FBI local office.

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI Crime News (b)

Director Christopher Wray has named David G. Nanz as the special agent in charge of the Springfield Field Office in Illinois. Mr. Nanz most recently served in the Inspection Division at FBI Headquarters in Washington.

Mr. Nanz joined the FBI as a special agent in 2001. He was first assigned to the Las Vegas Field Office, where he investigated white-collar crime cases.

In 2008, he was promoted to supervisory special agent and transferred to the Economic Crimes Unit of the Criminal Investigative Division at Headquarters. He was later promoted to unit chief, serving as the program manager for several cases stemming from the 2008 financial crisis. He also served as the FBI liaison to the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, and led the effort to have an FBI agent embedded in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Mr. Nanz transferred to the Miami Field Office in 2010. In addition to other duties, he oversaw the corporate and securities fraud program and established the South Florida Insurance Fraud Task Force. In 2016, he completed assignments in London and in Pretoria, South Africa, to support the FBI’s international corruption mission.

Later in 2016, Mr. Nanz was promoted to assistant special agent in charge in the Los Angeles Field Office, where he oversaw 11 criminal and forensic accountant squads. In 2019, he was promoted to inspector and returned to FBI Headquarters.

Mr. Nanz earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from George Washington University in Washington and a law degree from George Mason University in Virginia. Before he joined the FBI, Mr. Nanz was a law clerk to the administrative law judges of the National Transportation Safety Board and was later an attorney with an aviation law firm in New York.

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI Crime News (b)

The UCR Program collects information on crimes reported by law enforcement agencies regarding the violent crimes of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault, as well as the property crimes of burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson. (The FBI classifies arson as a property crime but does not estimate arson data because of variations in the level of participation by the reporting agencies. Consequently, arson data is not included in the property crime estimate.) The program also collects arrest data for the offenses listed above and 20 offenses that include all other crimes except traffic violations.

Of the 18,619 federal, state, county, city, university and college, and tribal agencies eligible to participate in the UCR Program, 15,897 agencies submitted data in 2020. A high-level summary of the statistics submitted, as well as estimates for those agencies that did not report, follows:

• In 2020, there were an estimated 1,277,696 violent crimes. When compared with the estimates from 2019, the estimated number of robbery offenses fell 9.3 percent and the estimated volume of rape (revised definition) offenses decreased 12.0 percent. The estimated number of aggravated assault offenses rose 12.1 percent, and the volume of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter offenses increased 29.4 percent.
• Nationwide, there were an estimated 6,452,038 property crimes. The estimated numbers for two of the three property crimes showed declines when compared with the previous year’s estimates. Burglaries dropped 7.4 percent, larceny-thefts decreased 10.6 percent, while motor vehicle thefts rose 11.8 percent.
• Collectively, victims of property crimes (excluding arson) suffered losses estimated at $17.5 billion in 2020.
• The FBI estimated law enforcement agencies nationwide made 7.6 million arrests, (excluding those for traffic violations) in 2020.
• The arrest rate for violent crime was 147.9 per 100,000 inhabitants, and the arrest rate for property crime was 267.3 per 100,000 inhabitants.
• By violent crime offense, the arrest rate for murder and nonnegligent manslaughter was 3.8 per 100,000 inhabitants; rape (aggregate total using the revised and legacy definition), 6.3; robbery, 21.0; and aggravated assault, 116.8 per 100,000 inhabitants.
• Of the property crime offenses, the arrest rate for burglary was 45.7 per 100,000 inhabitants; larceny-theft, 193.1; and motor vehicle theft, 25.5. The arrest rate for arson was 3.0 per 100,000 inhabitants.
• In 2020, 13,377 law enforcement agencies reported their staffing levels to the FBI. These agencies reported that, as of October 31, 2020, they collectively employed 696,644 sworn officers and 309,135 civilians—a rate of 3.4 employees per 1,000 inhabitants.

Caution Against Ranking—Each year when Crime in the United States is published, some entities use the figures to compile rankings of cities and counties. These rough rankings provide no insight into the numerous variables that mold crime in a particular town, city, county, state, tribal area, or region. Consequently, they lead to simplistic and/or incomplete analyses that often create misleading perceptions adversely affecting communities and their residents. Valid assessments are possible only with careful study and analysis of the range of unique conditions affecting each local law enforcement jurisdiction. The data user is, therefore, cautioned against comparing crime data of individual reporting units from cities, metropolitan areas, states, or colleges or universities solely on the basis of their population coverage or student enrollment.

Full Report

The downloadable files of Crime in the United States, 2020, are available on the UCR’s Crime Data Explorer.

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime News

LOS ANGELES—The FBI is engaged in a nationwide effort to build public awareness of hate crimes and to encourage reporting to law enforcement. Los Angeles is running advertisements in multiple languages in key areas to reach a variety of communities with diverse populations.

Hate crimes are among the highest priorities at the FBI because of the devastating impact they have on families and communities. Hate crimes are not only an attack on the victim—they are meant to threaten and intimidate an entire community.

The FBI is the lead investigative agency for criminal violations of federal civil rights statutes. The Bureau works closely with its local, state, tribal, and federal law enforcement partners in many of these cases, even when federal charges are not pursued. The FBI also works to detect and prevent incidents through law enforcement training, public outreach, and partnerships with community groups.

The FBI defines a hate crime as a “criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity.”

“Those who commit attacks motivated by hate may target an individual but they can affect an entire group of people,” said Kristi Johnson, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “The FBI is reaching out to groups commonly targeted with hate crimes to encourage reporting by those who may not realize how or where to report the circumstances of their situation. Our agents who investigate civil rights work with local police to investigate hate crime allegations—and with the United States Attorney’s Office—to pursue federal prosecution using civil rights statutes where appropriate.”

Advertising has already begun in some areas in southern California and more will be added in the coming weeks. The ads will run throughout the seven-county region covered by the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office and will be seen on billboards, transit, social media platforms, and at gas station monitors. Radio ads have also begun to air on various stations in English and in Spanish. Ads have been placed in the local region in various languages including Spanish, Korean, Chinese, and Tagalog. Materials for communities will also be printed in Arabic, Pashto, and Farsi. FBI personnel will be made available to the media, as well, to discuss the initiative.

“No one should experience violence, threats, and discrimination based on their race, religion, or national origin,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Tracy L. Wilkison. “Our office will continue working with the FBI and our other partners in law enforcement to empower those who report hateful acts and to prosecute those who commit them.”

The FBI works to protect all victims of crimes, regardless of their country of national origin or immigration status. The FBI encourages victims and witnesses of any hate-related incident to report it to law enforcement. After a report is submitted, the FBI will work with its law enforcement partners and use its resources and expertise to determine if an incident meets the criminal standard.

The most recent hate crime statistics released by the FBI can be found here: https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/fbi-releases-2020-hate-crime-statistics

If you believe you are a victim or a witness of a hate crime, we encourage you to report it to the FBI by calling 1-800-CALL-FBI or submitting a tip at tips.fbi.gov. You may remain anonymous.