FBI says online scams raked in $16.6 billion last year

Cybercriminals and online scammers stole a record $16.6 billion last year, the FBI said Wednesday.

Cybercriminals and online scammers stole a record $16.6 billion last year, the FBI said Wednesday.

The figure, from the FBI’s annual Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) report, is a sharp rise from the $12.5 billion reported in 2023, reflecting the increased prevalence of online scams, particularly ones including cryptocurrency and those targeting older Americans.

While the report is a leading look at how the United States is ravaged by cybercrime, its numbers are an undercount, as it only reflects people who take the time to file a report with the agency. The agency received 859,532 total complaints of scams and cybercrime last year.

“It’s hard to have numbers tell the full story of what might be occurring across the cybercriminal ecosystem,” Deputy Assistant Director Cynthia Kaiser said in a press call previewing the report.

“Since 2020, the virtualization of everything in our lives has increased the attack surface, and we’ve seen criminals move from the physical to the digital world,” she said.

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/fbi-says-online-scams-raked-166-billion-last-year-rcna202358

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