FBI - Online Fraud Losses Double

Figures released by the FBI show that the amount lost to internet crime in the USA has more than doubled in the past year.

The Internet Crime Complaint Centre (IC3) collates reports of internet crime from both the public and business alike, and this is the 9th time that these figures have been published showing the highest losses ever recorded.

The figures below show the number of complaints received across the past 5 years, and the subsequent losses arising from the reported complaints.

Year   Complaints Received   Dollar Loss
2009   336,655                        $559.7 million
2008   275,284                        $265 million
2007   206,884                        $239.09 million
2006   207,492                        $198.44 million
2005   231,493                        $183.12 million

The complaints vary in nature, but all relate to online crime; advanced fee scams are the most common type of complaint and account for 17% of all reports. Increasingly worrying for retailers is the second most reported offence of non-delivery of merchandise – accounting for 12% of all reports.

Interestingly nearly 10% of complaints received by IC3 were filed from UK residents. It will be interesting to see whether this number changes once the roll out of the National Fraud Authority’s Action Fraud helpline is complete and the UK public is aware of its existence and purpose.

The full report, including full statistics, methodology and case studies of convictions made possible by the IC3 reporting system is available online at: http://www.ic3.gov/media/annualreport/2009_IC3Report.pdf

To find out more about how 192business can help you to prevent fraud in the USA and Canada, please contact us.