You’ll likely notice digital billboards along some of Ada and Canyon County’s main thoroughfares -– compliments of the FBI.
The Salt Lake City Division of the FBI is using the digital billboards to promote its Internet Crime Complaint Center, also known as IC3.
The FBI established the IC3 as a mechanism to receive complaints of internet crime from the public. It also serves to develop alliances with industry partners, according to an FBI news release.
Reporting Internet crimes increased in 2015; the IC3 received a total of 288,012 complaints last year, the release said.
The initiative is part of what’s known as Operation Wellspring, launched in 2013, combining the efforts of the FBI and its state and local law enforcement partners to attack the threat of cyber-crimes.
There are currently ten FBI field offices that have Cyber Task Forces that participate in Operation Wellspring. The CTFs connect state and local law enforcement officers and government offices with federal cyber investigative resources.
“Once the IC3 receives a complaint filed by a victim, the analysts uses this data to create intelligence documents targeting a threat within the area that a CTF covers,” said FBI Salt Lake City Division Public Affairs Specialist Sandra Yi Barker. “This information is provided to the CTF and utilized by state and local task force officers who have been trained to investigate internet-facilitated crimes. Using a blend of federal, state and local resources, Operation Wellspring provides CTFs the ability to address the multitude of criminal activities occurring through the internet.”
The digital billboards will run until August 12th and can be found in the following locations in Boise:
- State Street, west of Glenwood Street
- Fairview Avenue and Maple Grove Road
- I-84, east of Empire Way
- Five Mile Road, south of Fairview Avenue
- 9320 Franklin Road , west of Maple Grove Road
- 1913 State Street
- Federal Way, south of Amity Road
And in Canyon County at:
- Caldwell Blvd, west of Karcher Road
- Caldwell Blvd, north of Sundance
- 4109 Garrity Blvd.
