page_title: United States Secret Service
section_title: Domestic expansion
hierarchical_section_title: United States Secret Service / History / 21st century / 2000s / Domestic expansion
caption_attribution_description: English: Secret Service Electronic Crimes Task Force (ECTF).
context_page_description: The United States Secret Service is a federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Homeland Security charged with conducting criminal investigations and protecting the nation's leaders and their families. Until 2003, the Secret Service was part of the Department of the Treasury, as the agency was founded in 1865 to combat the then-widespread counterfeiting of U.S. currency.
context_section_description: Effective March 1, 2003, the Secret Service transferred from the Treasury to the newly established Department of Homeland Security.
  The USA Patriot Act, signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 26, 2001, mandated the Secret Service to establish a nationwide network of ECTFs in addition to the one already active in New York. As such, this mandate expanded on the agency's first ECTF—the New York Electronic Crimes Task Force, formed in 1995—which brought together federal, state and local law enforcement, prosecutors, private-industry companies, and academia. These bodies collectively provide necessary support and resources to field investigations that meet any one of the following criteria: significant economic or community impact; participation of organized criminal groups involving multiple districts or transnational organizations; or use of schemes involving new technology.
  The network prioritizes investigations that meet the following criteria:
  Significant economic or community impact,
  Participation of multiple-district or transnational organized criminal groups,
  Use of new technology as a means to commit crime.
  Investigations conducted by ECTFs include crimes such as computer generated counterfeit currency; bank fraud; virus and worm proliferation; access device fraud; telecommunications fraud; Internet threats; computer system intrusions and cyberattacks; phishing/spoofing; assistance with Internet-related child pornography and exploitation; and identity theft.
caption: Secret Service Electronic Crimes Task Force (ECTF)
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