Losses of cybercrime victims exceeded $1.4 billion in 2017, the latest Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) 2017 Internet Crime report, shows.
The study found that the majority of victims and highest reported loss were over 60 years of age, with 49,523 victims and $342,531,972 in reported losses.
According to the report, in 2017 the top three cybercrimes reported by victims were Non- Payment/Non-Delivery-84,079 victims; Personal Data Breach -30,904 victims and Phishing -25,344 victims.
The top three crime types with the highest reported loss were Business Email Compro- mise (BEC)- $676,151,185,; Confidence/Romance fraud -$211,382,989, and Non- Payment/Non-Delivery- $141,110,441. The report data represents a total of 301,581 complaints filed with the Internet Complaint Center (IC3).
Interestingly, the study shows that the total number of ransomware complaints filed with the IC3 in 2017 (1783 complaints) decreased significantly compared to 2016 (2,673 complaints), leading many to believe victims losing faith in the FBI’s ability to help recover stolen data or prosecute offenders.
