File a Complaint or Report Suspicious Activities
File a Complaint with our Reparations Program
The staff of the CFTC's Office of Proceedings is responsible for the Commission’s Reparations program. The CFTC's Reparations program provides an inexpensive, impartial, and efficient forum for customer complaints against futures industry professionals. Customers may bring complaints against futures industry professionals currently or formerly registered with the CFTC if such individuals or firms allegedly violated the antifraud or other provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act. Reparations cases are decided by Judgment Officers or Administrative Law Judges. Part 12 of CFTC's regulations, 17 CFR 12, contains rules relating to Reparations.
Report Suspicious Activities or Information to the CFTC
The CFTC's Division of Enforcement investigates and prosecutes alleged violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and Commission regulations. The Commission relies on the public as an important source of information in carrying out its regulatory and enforcement responsibilities. You may contact us to report suspicious activities or transactions which may involve the trading of commodity futures contracts or commodity options.
- Providing information is completely voluntary. Please provide as much or as little information as you like. The more detail you provide, the more helpful it is to us. The Commission's principal reason for soliciting this information is to monitor and/or enforce compliance with the Commodity Exchange Act and Commission regulations, or to assist foreign authorities in gathering information relevant to their responsibilities.
- Any information you do provide, however, must be truthful. A person who is found to have knowingly and willfully submitted false, fictitious, and/or fraudulent statements to the CFTC may be fined up to $10,000 and/or imprisoned up to five years for such conduct. 18 USC 1001; 17 CFR 11.6(b).
- The information you provide may be used in the routine operation of the Commission, which includes law enforcement, review of legislative and regulatory proposals, regulation of the commodity futures markets, and review of reports and documents filed with the Commission.
- Specifically, the Commission may use the information obtained from this form in any administrative or civil proceeding in which it is a party, or in which any member of the Commission or its staff participates as a party. It may also provide the information to other state and federal agencies, and foreign authorities.
- The CFTC has authority to collect information and evidence pertinent to the effective enforcement of the Commodity Exchange Act, 7 USC 2, 5, 9, 12(a), 13a-1, 15, and the CFTC’s rules, and may also collect information and evidence relating to futures and options matters on behalf of foreign authorities, 7 USC 16(f)(1).
Report suspicious activities or transactions that might involve trading of commodity futures contracts or commodity options by:
- calling us toll-free at 866-FON-CFTC (866-366-2382)
- submitting our online form
- emailing us
Anonymous informants
We welcome information from the public about possible violations of the commodity futures laws. We recognize that often an informant desires to remain anonymous, or at least to receive assurances that his or her identity will be kept confidential. We do everything we can to accommodate such concerns.
If you choose to give us your name, we will do everything we can to maintain your confidentiality during the investigation. However, there are circumstances under which we might be unable to do so.
If you wish to remain anonymous, you need not identify yourself to us. Indeed, we often receive letters from anonymous informants. Often a letter will not give us sufficient information to let us investigate effectively, so we encourage you to telephone us. We are helped in our investigations by the ability to ask questions of an informant. You should note, however, that we sometimes are able to identify caller telephone numbers through Caller ID.