Hawaii residents and businesses reported losing $51.7 million due to internet crime in 2023, a 45% increase compared to $35.8 million in 2022. The number of reported complaints in Hawaii also increased by 15%, from 1,703 in 2022 to 1,954 last year.
According to the FBI’s annual Internet Crime Report released earlier this month, Internet crime incidents and complaints in Hawaii are increasing faster than the national average. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center said it received more than 880,000 complaints last year, with potential losses totaling more than $12.5 billion nationwide. This translates into an approximately 10% increase in complaints and a 22% increase in losses starting in 2022.
“The true cost of Internet crime fraud is likely much higher because many people and businesses do not report crimes to authorities,” said Keali Lopez, AARP Hawaii state director. “That’s why AARP Her Hawaii strives to educate kupuna and their loved ones about fraud prevention through the AARP Fraud Watch Network (aarp.org/fraudwatch).”
The top three crime types most commonly reported by victims were phishing/identification, personal data breach, and non-payment/non-delivery. A new FBI report says the top three crime types reported by fraud victims are investment fraud, business email compromise (BEC), and technical support fraud. In 2023, more than 298,000 complaints about phishing and impersonation schemes were reported. Over 55,000 personal data breach complaints and 50,000 non-payment/non-delivery fraud complaints were reported.
Free seminar on AARP Hawaii, Maui
Paul Greenwood, former elder abuse prosecutor and AARP fraud speaker, will lead a “Together We Fight Fraud” seminar at Kaunoa Senior Services in Paia on April 26 at 9:30 a.m. This seminar will discuss some of the major scams in Hawaii and strategies for spotting and avoiding fraud and financial exploitation.
To register for a free seminar, visit events.aarp.org/hifraud24 or visit aarp.org/local or the AARP Hawaii Facebook page to see all the events AARP has to offer.
AARP will also host an educational webinar on April 5 at 10:30 a.m. with Amy Nofziger, director of victim support for the AARP Fraud Monitoring Network.
“At Fraud Watch Network, we are seeing an increase in crypto fraud and online commerce fraud targeting both sellers and victims,” Nofziger said. “In our Anatomy of a Scam webinar, we take a closer look at scams in the internet and social media market.”
Nationally, investment fraud is the largest source of losses, increasing to $4.57 billion in 2023, an increase of 38% from 2022. Losses from cryptocurrency investment fraud in 2023 increased to $3.94 billion, an increase of 53% compared to 2022. With $2.9 billion in reported losses, tech support scams account for the third highest amount of losses, with over $924 million stolen.
Victims between the ages of 30 and 49 are most likely to report losses from investment scams, and those 60 and older account for more than half of all losses from technical support scams.
Ransomware continued to cause harm and impact in 2023. IC3 received over 2,800 ransomware complaints and losses increased to $59.6 million, an increase of 74% year-on-year. The critical infrastructure most commonly reported to have been affected by ransomware was healthcare and public health, critical manufacturing facilities, and government facilities.
The FBI said in a news release that the Internet Crime Complaint Center provides the public with a direct way to report cyber threats, complex financial crimes, and other online threats. The FBI encourages victims to report suspected Internet crimes to her at ic3.gov.
The Internet Crime Complaint Center was established in May 2000 to receive complaints of online-related crimes. IC3 has received more than 8 million complaints since its inception.
The FBI encourages the public to frequently review consumer and industry alerts issued by the Internet Crime Complaint Center.
