Art Crime
Art and cultural property crime—which includes theft, fraud, looting, and trafficking across state and international lines—leads to billions of dollars in losses every year.
Art Crime Team
The FBI Art Crime Team, made up of special agents from across the country, is coordinated through the FBI’s Art Theft Program at FBI Headquarters.
Agents on our Art Crime Team:
- Address art and cultural property crime cases in assigned geographic regions
- Receive specialized training in art and cultural property investigations
- Assist in art-related investigations worldwide in cooperation with foreign law enforcement officials and FBI legal attaché offices
- Receive support from U.S. Department of Justice special trial attorneys
Since its inception in 2004, the Art Crime Team has recovered more than 15,000 items valued at over $800 million.
The National Stolen Art File (NSAF)
The National Stolen Art File (NSAF) is is an online database of stolen art and cultural property. Law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad submit stolen objects to the NSAF.
If you have information on a piece in the NSAF, submit a tip to the FBI at tips.fbi.gov.
If you or your organization need access to the NSAF, contact your local FBI field office or your closest FBI legal attaché.

What should you do if you discover art has been stolen from your gallery, museum, or other institution?
- Contact your local police department immediately
- Protect the scene of the crime—do not let staff or visitors into the area to disturb evidence
- Determine the last time the objects were seen and what happened in the area, or to the objects, since that time
- Gather documents, descriptions, and images of the missing objects and provide to law enforcement
- Keep in touch with law enforcement for investigation updates
Art Crime News
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06.10.2022
FBI Art Crime Team Returns Paintings Stolen Five Decades Ago
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05.23.2022
Former Art Dealer Sentenced to Seven Years for $86 Million Fraud Scheme
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04.22.2022
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12.17.2021
Decades After Thefts, Stolen Artifacts Recovered and Returned to Philadelphia-Area Museums
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12.10.2021
Escondido Resident Sentenced to Three Years in Prison for Selling $1.1 Million of Forged Art
FBI Top Ten Art Crimes
- Iraqi Looted and Stolen Artifacts
- Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Theft
- Theft of Caravaggio’s Nativity with San Lorenzo and San Francesco
- Theft of the Davidoff-Morini Stradivarius
- The Van Gogh Museum Robbery (Recovered)
- Theft of Cezanne’s View of Auvers-sur-Oise
- Theft of the Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney Murals, Panels 3-A and 3-B
- Theft from the Museu Chacara do Céu
- Theft of Van Mieris’ A Cavalier
- Theft of Renoir Oil Painting
External Links and Resources
- Interpol Stolen Works of Art
- Interpol Cultural Heritage Crime
- U.S. Department of State Cultural Heritage Office
- Museum Security Network
- International Council of Museums
- Interpol Washington, the United States Central Bureau
- UNESCO Convention for Cultural Property Protection
- Los Angeles Police Department Art Theft Detail