Pierluigi Paganini
March 07, 2024
The 2023 Internet Crime Report published the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) reveals that reported cybercrime losses reached $12.5 billion in 2023.
The figure marks a 22% surge in reported losses compared to 2022.
In 2023, the FBI IC3 received a record number of complaints, totaling 880,418, which represents a nearly 10% increase in complaints received compared to 2022.
The report notes that the above figures are conservative concerning cybercrime in 2023, as only a small percentage of victims reported incidents to law enforcement.
According to the report, in 2023 tech support scams and extortion crimes increased, while phishing, non-payment/non-delivery scams, and personal data breach slightly decreased.
The most expensive type of crime monitored by IC3 this year is “investment scams” which increased from $3.31 billion in 2022 to $4.57 billion in 2023 (+38%). The second most costly crime was the business email compromise (BEC), which caused $2.9 billion in losses. The FBI reports that victims aged 30 to 49 were predominantly affected by investment frauds, whereas the elderly constituted well over half of the losses attributed to tech support scams.
In 2023, IC3 received 2,825 ransomware complaints, resulting in adjusted losses exceeding $59.6 million.
The IC3 reported 1,193 ransomware complaints from organizations within a critical infrastructure sector. Among the 16 critical infrastructure sectors, IC3 reports indicated that 14 sectors had at least one member affected by a ransomware attack in 2023.
The five top ransomware variants reported to the IC3 that affected an organization of a critical infrastructure sector were Lockbit, ALPHV/Blackcat, Akira, Royal, and Black Basta.
“Last year also saw notable achievements for law enforcement. The FBI’s commitment to assisting cyber victims and fostering partnerships allowed for the continued success of IC3’s Recovery Asset Team (RAT). Established in 2018, RAT streamlines communications with financial institutions and FBI field offices to facilitate the freezing of funds for victims.” concludes the report. “In 2023, IC3’s RAT initiated the Financial Fraud Kill Chain (FFKC) on 3,008 incidents, with potential losses of $758.05 million. A monetary hold was placed on $538.39 million, representing a success rate of 71%.”
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