TECH NEWS – And this high amount is increasing every year, as the 2024 amount is one third higher than the 2023 result!
The annual report of the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) has been released. In addition to the staggering statistic that the IC3 has received an average of more than 2,000 complaints per day over the past five years, the Bureau reports that cybercriminals made a total of $16.6 billion in “profits” last year, much of which was attributed to fraud. That $16.6 billion represents a 33% increase from the previous year.
According to the report, Americans over the age of 60 are the most affected group, with more than 147,000 complaints registered in 2024, representing a loss of approximately $4.8 billion. But this is only part of the story. The FBI only publishes figures for crimes discovered by the organization or reported directly by U.S. residents. It is likely that the damage caused by ransomware attacks is not included in the total!
“As nearly all aspects of our lives have become digitally connected, the attack surface for cyber actors has grown exponentially. Scammers are increasingly using the Internet to steal Americans’ hard-earned savings. Last year, losses reported to the IC3 reached an all-time high of $16.6 billion. Fraud accounted for the majority of reported losses in 2024, and ransomware was once again the most prevalent threat to critical infrastructure, with complaints up nine percent from 2023. In terms of ransomware-adjusted losses, “this figure does not include estimates of lost business, time, wages, files or equipment, or any third-party remediation services purchased by an organization. In some cases, companies do not report a loss amount to the FBI, creating an artificially low overall ransomware loss rate,” said B. Chad Yarbrough, the FBI’s executive assistant director for criminal and cyber operations.
The IC3 was established in 2000 to receive complaints across the spectrum of cyber issues, including online fraud, hacking, economic espionage, international money laundering, and more. The organization publishes its annual report to raise public awareness of the scale and prevalence of online crime, and the figures suggest that it is busier than ever these days, handling an astonishing number of complaints.
16.6 billion dollars a year – just imagine how much that is!
