According to data compild by Internet Crime Complaint Center, a partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center -- The reported cyberfraud losses have doubled in 2009 compared to the previous year. The total dollar loss rose to $559.7 million in 2009 from $264.6 million in 2008.
The number of complaints received increased 22 percent to 336,655 from 275,284.
As expected, fraudsters’ modus operandi in most cases remained pretending to be affiliated to some reputed or feared entities. Thus, Schemes in which scammers pretended to be affiliated with the FBI to gain information from victims accounted for 16.6 percent of all complaints received.
Other notable findings:
--Frauds in which sellers failed to ship or buyers failed to pay for merchandise accounted for 11.9 percent of all complaints.
--Frauds where victims paid money upfront, typically for rewards that never materialize, made up 9.8 percent of all complaints.
-- In 65 out of every 100 reported frauds, the alleged fraudsters were in the United States, while 9.9 percent were in Great Britain, 8 percent in Nigeria and 2.6 percent in Canada.
The report notes that Cyberfraud has been a growing problem for many years. And the numbers reported by the ICCC are only a fraction of the total losses that victims incur; as most cyber frauds go unreported. ---------
The number of complaints received increased 22 percent to 336,655 from 275,284.
As expected, fraudsters’ modus operandi in most cases remained pretending to be affiliated to some reputed or feared entities. Thus, Schemes in which scammers pretended to be affiliated with the FBI to gain information from victims accounted for 16.6 percent of all complaints received.
Other notable findings:
--Frauds in which sellers failed to ship or buyers failed to pay for merchandise accounted for 11.9 percent of all complaints.
--Frauds where victims paid money upfront, typically for rewards that never materialize, made up 9.8 percent of all complaints.
-- In 65 out of every 100 reported frauds, the alleged fraudsters were in the United States, while 9.9 percent were in Great Britain, 8 percent in Nigeria and 2.6 percent in Canada.
The report notes that Cyberfraud has been a growing problem for many years. And the numbers reported by the ICCC are only a fraction of the total losses that victims incur; as most cyber frauds go unreported. ---------
Reported cyberfraud losses in US in 2009
Anil Singh
Monday, March 15, 2010
