Americans lost $10.3 billion to online scams in 2022

[Shawn Knight]

The big picture: Cyber criminals managed to swindle more than $10.2 billion from Americans in 2022 according to the latest data from the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). The service, which serves as a public resource to submit reports about cyberattacks, logged 800,994 complaints last year. That is down five percent from 2021 but the total financial impact grew substantially, from $6.9 billion to over $10.2 billion.

Over the last five years, IC3 has received an average of 651,800+ complaints each year. Since its inception in 2000, more than 7.3 million total reports have been filed. The $10.2 billion loss by victims in 2022 was the highest in the program's history.

Phishing schemes were the most commonly reported cyber crime in 2022, accounting for more than a third of all complaints. In fact, phishing reports have been the top crime type each year since 2019. But it was investment scams that were the costliest last year, increasing from $1.45 billion in 2021 to $3.31 billion in 2022.

Within that category, cryptocurrency investment fraud skyrocketed from $907 million to $2.57 billion in the same time frame. Despite frequently topping headlines over the course of 2022, ransomware attacks accounted for just 2,385 complaints and $34.3 million in losses. The healthcare sector was the top target for these types of attacks followed by critical manufacturing facilities.

Americans over the age of 60 were hit hardest by online scams, collectively losing $3.1 billion last year. Those under 20 lost the least amount of money at $210.5 million and filed the fewest complains – 15,782.

It is worth noting that the FBI's figures only represent incidents reported to the IC3. The actual number of successful scams and the amount of money stolen from victims is no doubt far greater than what these figures suggest.

Several factors could play into why a victim might not report a cyber crime, including shame or the belief that the loss was not costly enough to bother filing a complaint.

Image credit: Nick Youngson

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https://www.techspot.com/news/97946-americans-lost-103-billion-online-scams-2022.html

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Simplest answer: there are a LOT of people out there that are....just plagued with PICNIC and PEBCAK events. When it comes to a computer, people are wilfully ignorant, because computors r hrd.

 

[RudyBob]

Good for the swindlers finding the dummies

 

[brucek]

Good for the swindlers finding the dummies

Sorry, can't go along with this. Many of the victims are intentionally elderly. 100% of us will age and all of us will face some level of cognitive decline. It is not OK to allow our oldest and most vulnerable to be targeted and exploited. The scams are well evolved at this point and it is not like they are working on only our 1% dumbest and least careful. They are big business because they work on decently large portions of their target audience.

I'm glad to see the FBI helping illustrate the scale of the problem. Next I'd like to some more energetic diplomatic and law enforcement muscle to stop making this a safe business to be in for the scammers. There are entire call centers in India running these operations in the broad light of day, and you can find details on popular YouTube channels like Scammer Payback, Kitboga, etc. Currently it is apparently too easy for them to pay off the right local official to avoid serious repercussions. There is enough legal trade between the US and India that we ought to be able to insist the top people be extradited and face long sentences here.

 

[RudyBob]

Sorry, can't go along with this. Many of the victims are intentionally elderly. 100% of us will age and all of us will face some level of cognitive decline. It is not OK to allow our oldest and most vulnerable to be targeted and exploited. The scams are well evolved at this point and it is not like they are working on only our 1% dumbest and least careful. They are big business because they work on decently large portions of their target audience.

I'm glad to see the FBI helping illustrate the scale of the problem. Next I'd like to some more energetic diplomatic and law enforcement muscle to stop making this a safe business to be in for the scammers. There are entire call centers in India running these operations in the broad light of day, and you can find details on popular YouTube channels like Scammer Payback, Kitboga, etc. Currently it is apparently too easy for them to pay off the right local official to avoid serious repercussions. There is enough legal trade between the US and India that we ought to be able to insist the top people be extradited and face long sentences here.

You are right. Just cause you are young doesn't mean you are smart but being dumb is a bad thing

 

[Hodor]

Especially because certain groups are protected by the government(s) and allowed to rip off ordinary Joe and Jane for as long as they wish. No attempts are made to catch them. Probably because their location is already known: a government-owned office.