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Loading ...BOSTON – In the United States, Internet fraud increased by 33 per cent last year, and reached record high losses of $264.6 million according to federal authorities. This year, complaints reported to U.S. authorities in March alone increased by 50 per cent.
Most scams originate from United States, Canada, Britain, Nigeria, and China.
Last year’s losses compared with $239 million in 2007 and dwarf the $18 million in 2001.
The most common complaints, in order:
- Non-delivery of promised merchandise
- Auction fraud
- Credit card fraud
- Investment scams
Of 275,284 complaints received by the in 2008, 72,940 were referred to U.S. law enforcement agencies for prosecution. Those referrals spiked this year with 40,000 in the first quarter alone.
“It is our belief that these numbers, both the complaints filed and the dollars, represent just a small tip of the iceberg,” said Kane, managing director of the National White Collar Crime Center in Richmond, Va.
“Our own research suggests that as few as 15 per cent of cases of cyber-fraud are being reported to crime control agencies,” he said.
Within the United States, the bulk originated in California (16 per cent), followed by New York and Florida.
Some Numbers:
- Non-delivery of merchandise frauds – rose by 32%; mostly via eBay and craigslist.com
- 74% of scams – through emails (spam)
- 29% of scams – used websites
- Increasing uses of social networking sites and IMs
- 80% of known perpetrators of online scams are male.
- Of those bringing complaints, nearly half are between the ages of 30 and 50
- Median dollar loss was $931 per complaint
- Median loss for check fraud reached $3,000
- Median loss for investment scams was $2,000
The report highlights one new “significant’ identity-theft scam involving e-mail messages that give the appearance of originating from the FBI but seek bank account information to help in investigations of money being transferred to Nigeria. Recipients of the e-mails are told they could be richly rewarded by co-operating.
