Cybercrime: FBI Report Confirms Drastic Increase

According to a new report, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has identified a drastic increase in cybercrime. 880.418 cases were registered in 2023, with the associated losses amounting to 12.5 billion US dollars. Cybercrime is on the (dangerous) rise.

FBI report confirms increase in cybercrime

The FBI has published its annual Internet Crime Report for 2023(via PDF), which confirms what we all already knew or at least suspected. Not only has the number of recorded cases increased significantly, the US authority also estimates the associated losses at more than 12.5 billion US dollars, which represents an increase of almost 22% compared to 2022.

880.418 cases were registered, around 10 percent more than in the previous year. However, this only applies to reported cybercrimes; the number of unreported cases is likely to be significantly higher, as not all those affected by online crime report it to the FBI.

The statistics show that the number of cases and losses have risen rapidly over the past five years. According to the report, the agency receives an average of 2,412 complaints per day.

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Phishing attacks and ransomware attacks

Phishing attacks account for the largest proportion of these, although the number of reported cases has fallen slightly compared to the previous two years to 298,878. This is followed by personal data breaches (55,851 cases) and so-called “non-payment/non-delivery” offenses with 50,523 cases.

There has been a noticeable increase in the financial amount of damage, particularly in the area of ransomware attacks. However, investment fraud (around USD 4.57 billion) and BEC, i.e. fraudulent business emails (USD 2.95 billion), account for the greatest losses.

The age groups also differ greatly, as the FBI notes. People aged 60 and over are most frequently affected, with 101,068 reported cases and a loss of 3.4 billion US dollars.

Although there are more cases in the 30-39 age group than in the 40-49 age group, the amount of losses is lower at USD 1.2 billion compared to USD 1.5 billion. According to the FBI, those aged between 30 and 49 are most frequently affected by investment fraud, while tech support fraud is the most common scam among older people.

Incidentally, by far the most cases were reported from the USA. 521.652 of the total of 880,418 cases come from the USA. The UK (288,355 cases) and Canada (6,601 cases) follow in second place. Germany is listed in the statistics with 1,571 reported offenses.