services

The NC3TF is a technology/cyber-crime and identity theft task force whose law enforcement mission is defined in California Penal Code § 13848. The task force is a partnership of government agencies working together to identify, investigate, and prosecute computer crimes, technology-related crimes, and identity theft. The mission of the task force is two-fold:

  1. to apprehend and prosecute high technology criminals and to protect our communities from high technology crime and threats involving computers and computer networks; and
  2. to apprehend and prosecute criminals who engage in the unlawful practice of identity theft.

An ancillary function of NC3TF is to provide timely, professional, and technically advanced digital forensic examinations of electronic devices for the investigation of serious violent crimes and significant property theft/fraud to city, county, and state law enforcement agencies in its area of operation. Digital forensic examinations often provide the essential evidence necessary for successful investigations and prosecutions. Therefore, NC3TF’s digital forensic laboratory is critical to its overall mission success with supporting law enforcement agencies in its area of operation.      

The NC3TF was established on the premise that the effectiveness of cybercrime investigations would be enhanced in a task force setting where there is the sharing of multi-agency resources, expertise, and personnel. The NC3TF will utilize its specialized resources to investigate cases when:

  1. Computers and technologies are the target of a crime;
  2. Computers and technologies are the principal instrumentality of a crime; or
  3. Computers and technologies are misused to facilitate violations of other criminal laws, and a specialized understanding of technology is required for investigation or prosecution.

The types of cases meeting these criteria include, but are not limited to, the following:

  1. Crimes targeting or committed through the use of digital assets such as cryptocurrencies or non-fungible tokens;
  2. The unlawful or unauthorized access of, destruction of, or entry into private or government computers or computer networks;
  3. The dissemination of malicious software, often known as viruses and worms, which result in the criminal misuse of computers or computer networks;
  4. Identity theft investigations with a significant monetary loss;
  5. Software piracy and other unlawful use of intellectual property;
  6. Large-scale identity theft wherein most of the fraud involves the internet, network access, or other sophisticated computer technology, as well as large- scale multi-jurisdictional identity theft crimes where computers are used;
  7. All types of internet fraud, where the substantive crime is principally conducted over the internet;
  8. Threats made over the internet; and
  9. Use of the internet for extortion.

California Penal Code § 13848 provides the general description of specific high technology crimes for which allocated funds are to be used for investigation and prosecution.