Sharing false information: reporting it to us
Is it an emergency?
Call 999 now in emergency situations like these:
- there is an immediate danger to life
- someone is using violence or is threatening to be violent
Hearing or speech impairments
- If you’ve pre-registered with the emergencySMS service, use our textphone service 18000 or text us on 999.
- Call 999 BSL to use a British Sign Language interpreter.
In this section:
| 1. What is sharing false information? |
| 2. What you can do: reporting it to us |
| 3. Reporting it to social media companies if it happened online |
| 4. Help and support |
You can report to us, and if it happened online you can also report to the social media company. First, we'll tell you how you can report to us.
Before you report
You don't need to gather 'evidence' like screenshots, text messages, videos or photos before you report to us.
All you need to do when you report is tell us what happened.
If you can collect any screenshots, text messages, videos or photos, details like these can be useful to us:
If you were online:
- sender's name
- username
- user ID
- which platform, app, social media site, or online space you were using
- when it happened
- details of what was sent, written, or spoken in a voice note or video
If you were offline:
- what was said to you
- any physical evidence, like a letter, written note or a printed image
- where it happened
- when it happened
Ways to report
You can report these crimes online.
Your report will be sent direct to our control room where it will be reviewed by the same team who answer our calls.
Visit a police station
If you want to speak to an officer in person, we can provide a safe and comfortable environment at any of our police stations.
If you need a translator, we can provide someone by phone to start with and later in person.
After you report
After we get your report we’ll keep in touch with you and let you know what will happen next.
- Find out more about what happens after you report a crime.
Report anonymously
You can report anonymously via the Crimestoppers website or by calling them on 0800 555 111.
Any details you can give Crimestoppers are extremely valuable in helping us find out more about who's committing these types of crime.