Security News > 2020 > February > FBI: $3.5B Lost in 2019 to Known Cyberscams, Ransomware

Businesses and individuals lost $3.5 billion to cybercriminals last year while reporting more incidents of internet crime to the FBI than any year previously, according to the bureau's Internet Core Competency Certification 2019 Internet Crime Report, which was released on Tuesday.

People reported 467,361 complaints of cybercrime to the FBI in 2019-an average of nearly 1,300 incidents every day, and more than 100,000 more than the year prior, according to the report.

Phishing and similar ploys, non-payment/non-delivery scams and extortion were the top crime complaints reported to the FBI in 2019.

The 2019 report found that business email compromise, romance or confidence fraud, and spoofing are the crimes that defraud people and businesses out of the most money, according to the report.

The FBI's Internet Crime Report reveals while the number of ransomware attacks decreased last year, the amount of loses increased and ransomware is now spiking back up.

News URL

https://threatpost.com/fbi-3-5b-lost-in-2019-to-known-cyberscams-ransomware/152815/