According to a report released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) this month, Americans lost $10.3 billion due to various online frauds last year (currently about 70.658 billion RMB).
The FBI’s annual report said the amount was the highest in nearly five years, with the bureau’s Cybercrime Complaint Center receiving an average of more than 2,000 complaints a day.
According to the report, the most common type of crime was phishing, with 300,497 victims falling for this scam, defrauding more than $52 million. “Phishing” is an unsolicited email, text message or phone call claiming to be from a legitimate company and asking for personal, financial or login information. Phishing is often successful because phishing emails are often similar to those sent by someone the victim knows, prompting them to click on unsafe links.
“Data breaches” and “non-payment scams” are the second and third most common types of online fraud in the U.S. in 2022, with 58,859 and 51,679 victims, respectively.
Ransomware locks data on a device and demands a ransom from the victim. In 2022, the FBI received 2,385 complaints identified as ransomware, resulting in adjusted losses of more than $34.3 million, the report said. Of all industries, the healthcare industry was hit hardest by ransomware, followed by critical manufacturing and government.
The FBI does not encourage the payment of ransoms to criminals, the report said, “paying ransoms may embolden adversaries to attack more organizations, encourage other criminals to participate in the distribution of ransomware, and fund illegal activities. Paying ransoms also does not guarantee The victim’s files will be recovered.”
Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Justice dismantled a ransomware ring known as HIVE that was responsible for 87 incidents targeting critical infrastructure, the report said.
Call centers from India are also reportedly rampant in online fraud, costing U.S. victims over $1 billion in 2022. “Call centers overwhelmingly target seniors, with almost half of victims reporting they are over 60 (46 percent),” the report said. Overall, in 2022, older Americans will lose 31 percent to Internet fraud. billion, the most of any age group.
According to the report, the FBI has a 73 percent success rate in recovering funds from victims.
