The FBI has released its 2020 Internet Crime Report which shows that the number of public complaints about suspected cybercrimes such as phishing, spoofing, extortion and fraud soared 69% last year.
A record 791,790 complaints were received by the FBI in 2020 and reported losses exceeded $4.2 billion. Business Email Compromise schemes were once again the costliest complaint with an adjusted loss of about $1.8 billion.
A record 791,790 complaints were received by the FBI in 2020 and reported losses exceeded $4.2 billion. Business Email Compromise schemes were once again the costliest complaint with an adjusted loss of about $1.8 billion.
Confidence fraud and romance fraud came second on the list of losses at just over $600 million while investment schemes came third, resulting in some $336 million being lost. The three most common crimes reported by victims were phishing scams, non-payment/non-delivery scams and extortion.
California had 69,541 internet crime victims last year, the most of any U.S. state. It was followed by Florida (53,793) and Texas (38,640) while Vermont, North Dakota and South Dakota had the least victims with less than 1,000 each. 2020 was notable for the emergence of numerous online schemes to exploit the Covid-19 pandemic with both businesses and individuals targeted.
The FBI reported that 28,500 complaints related to Covid-19 were received and that most of them were related to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act).
The majority involved grant fraud, loan fraud, and phishing for Personally Identifiable Information. In many cases, victims did not realize they had been targeted until they attempted to file their own legitimate claim for unemployment insurance benefits.
Another widely observed scheme during the pandemic has been the emergence of government impersonators. Criminals have reached out to people via social media, email or phone, pretending to represent the government with personal information and money gained via charade or threats.
Scams are also emerging around vaccinations whereby people have been asked to pay for jabs out of pocket or to provide scammers with personal information for an appointment.
Source: Forbes / Statista
