Scammers stole $16.6 billion from victims last year
Consumers lost more than $16 billion to scammers and cybercriminals last year, according to new FBI data published Wednesday.
Why it matters: That's a 33% increase from the total that people lost in 2023, indicating that scammers are getting better at tricking victims despite law enforcement, government and industry investments.
By the numbers: Nearly 860,000 people filed complaints about scams, fraud and other internet crimes in 2024, down from about 880,000 last year, per the FBI's latest internet crime report.
Of those complaints, about 256,000 of them were tied to actual losses. The average victim lost $19,372 to these cyber crimes, according to the report.
The big picture: The annual report from the FBI's Internet Crime Center (also known as IC3) provides the best snapshot of the cyber threats facing everyday people.
The FBI compiles the data based on reports to its own offices, as well as those to partner law enforcement organizations across the country and globally.
Other reports typically rely on limited survey data or focus on experiences among one cybersecurity vendor's customer base.
What they're saying:"The criminals Americans face today may look different than in years past, but they still want the same thing: to harm Americans for their own benefit," Chad Yarbrough, the FBI's operations director for criminal and cyber, wrote in the report.
"Without the information you report to us through IC3 or your local FBI Field Office, we simply cannot piece together the puzzle of this ever-shifting threat landscape."
Zoom in: Phishing, data extortion and personal data breaches topped the list of cyber crime reports in 2024.
Victims filed about 193,000 complaints about phishing, 86,000 reports about ransomware and data extortion schemes and nearly 65,000 reports about personal data breaches.
However, investment scams, business email compromise and tech support scams resulted in the biggest losses for victims.
The FBI estimates people lost $6.5 billion to fake investment schemes, $2.7 billion to business email compromise and $1.4 billion to scammers posing as tech support agents.
Complaints about ransomware also jumped 9% in 2024.
Threat level: More than 147,127 complaints were filed by people 60 and older, and scams against them amounted to $4.8 billion in losses.
This marked a 43% increase in losses from 2023.
The top complaints reported against seniors were phishing or spoofing, tech support, extortion and personal data breaches.
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