The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) disclosed in a report released Wednesday that a record $12.5 billion in losses from online scams were reported in 2023, driven primarily by a surge in cryptocurrency investment fraud.
This staggering figure represents a notable increase of over $2 billion from the total losses reported in 2022 and marks the highest tally of losses from digital scams since the FBI began reporting on the subject more than two decades ago.
Timothy Langan, the FBI’s executive assistant director, underscored the significant impact of profit-driven cybercriminals and nation-state adversaries, noting their capability to disrupt various sectors, including school systems, police departments, healthcare facilities, and private sector entities.
According to the FBI, more than a third of the reported $12.5 billion in losses in 2023, amounting to $4.5 billion, stemmed from investment scams. Many of these scams involved criminals posing as individuals’ love interests and deceiving them into investing in fraudulent cryptocurrency schemes.
A recent investigation by CNN shed light on the extensive prevalence of such crypto schemes, featuring insights from fraud victims, investigators, and even the perpetrators themselves.
While the FBI’s annual cybercrime report provides valuable insights into the financial impact of online fraud, it only offers a partial picture as numerous victims opt not to report scams.
Additionally, the FBI report highlighted a surge in the detrimental costs of ransomware attacks, despite widespread calls from US government officials urging corporate victims not to pay hackers.
Reported losses from ransomware attacks soared from approximately $34 million in 2022 to about $59 million in 2023, according to the FBI. However, the total financial impact from ransomware, encompassing ransom payments and the costs of rebuilding damaged systems and lost business, far exceeds these figures. The FBI acknowledged that only a fraction of victims report ransomware attacks to the bureau.
According to a recent report by crypto-tracking firm Chainalysis, cybercriminals extorted a record $1.1 billion in ransom payments from victim organizations worldwide last year.
The release of the FBI report coincides with efforts by federal agencies to mitigate the financial ramifications of a ransomware attack on Change Healthcare, a major health insurance billing provider, which has incurred substantial losses for US healthcare providers on a daily basis, according to estimates.
The healthcare sector reported 249 ransomware incidents last year, surpassing all other sectors, as outlined in the new FBI report.
