In 2023, American consumers and businesses will lose a record $12.5 billion to internet crime, according to the FBI’s annual report.
Total losses last year were up 22% from 2022. Meanwhile, the number of complaints featured in the 2023 Internet Crime Report increased by nearly 10% to more than 880,000. The FBI stressed in its report that this number is likely on the low side, given that many Internet crimes remain unreported.
Investment fraud continued to account for the largest share of internet crime last year, with related losses increasing 38% to $4.57 billion. And most of the losses from these scams, which promise big profits and demand upfront investments that never materialize, were related to cryptocurrencies, the FBI said. Losses from crypto-related investment fraud in 2023 increased by 53% to $3.94 billion.
Business email compromise, where criminals typically compromise legitimate business accounts and use them to trick people into handing over money or information, ranked second last year as well, with reported losses of $2.9 billion .
Losses from tech support scams, in which targets are often tricked into believing their computers are full of malware or that their antivirus and other software licenses have expired, rose 15% to nearly $1 billion, while Reported losses related to ransomware complaints increased by 74% to nearly $1 billion. $59.6 million.
