Most cybercrimes have increased since 2019, growing more sophisticated with new technology. The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s 2023 Internet Crime Report shows the number of internet scam complaints nearly doubled, increasing from 467,361 in 2019 to more than 880,000 complaints in 2023. Financial losses from cybercrimes increased from $3.5 billion to $12.5 billion, with business email compromise alone costing Americans more than $2.9 billion in 2023.
Social engineering and computer intrusion techniques, such as phishing and ransomware, are advancing with AI capabilities. The FBI is working to cage these cybercriminals with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), which gives victims a direct way to report cybercrime and advance their investigations. The IC3 collects data and identifies changing cyberthreats. In the 2023 report, the IC3 emphasized using two-factor or multifactor authentication for stronger cybersecurity and implementing procedures that verify purchase requests and payments outside of email correspondence.
The crime report lists losses from ransomware attacks at$59.6 million, noting healthcare and public health, critical manufacturing and government facilities are the most at-risk sectors. Impersonation of government officials and tech and customer support losses came in at over $1.3 billion. Many of these victims reporting cybercrimes are people 60 and older (40%), and this age group carries the bulk of the financial burden, experiencing $770 million or 58% of support- and impersonation-related losses. In 2023, people 60 and older filed 101,068 complaints with the IC3, totaling $3.4 billion in losses.
The slideshow above lists the top five cybercrimes in 2023 and how they’ve evolved over the past five years, according to the 2023 Internet Crime Report.