Internet Crime on the Rise; Reaches $1.3 Billion in 2016
The financial loss from cybercrime in the U.S. exceeded $1.3 billion in 2016, a rise of 24 percent, according to a report by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).
The "2016 Internet Crime Report," examined the most prevalent and most damaging forms of cybercrimes today – like business email compromise (BEC), ransomware, tech support fraud, and extortion. It based its findings on nearly 300,000 complaints filed with the IC3, which compiles data from public complaints in order to refer cases to the appropriate law enforcement agencies as well as to identify trends.
In 2016, the top three crime types reported to the bureau were non-payment and non-delivery, personal data breach and payment scams; while the top three crime types by reported loss were BEC, romance and confidence fraud, and non-payment and non-delivery scams.
The top five states based on victim counts were:
- California: 39,547
- Texas: 21,441
- Florida: 21,068
- New York: 16,426
- Illinois: 9,177
Based on loss values, the top five states were:
- California: $255.2 million
- New York: $106.2 million
- Florida: $88.8 million
- Texas: $77.1 million
- Virginia: $49.2 million
Americans over the age of 60 were the most frequent victims (more than 55,000) and suffered the greatest total losses ($339.5 billion). Loss totals increased by age group, but the second highest total number of victims came in the 30 to 39 age group (54,670).
https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/ic3-releases-2016-internet-crime-report
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