Security News > 2020 > February > FBI: Cybercrime tore a $3.5b hole in victims’ pockets last year
According to the FBI's 2019 Internet Crime Report, released on Tuesday by the bureau's Internet Crime Complaint Center, the total amount of money clawed out of victims through a smorgasbord of cybercrime types just keeps climbing, with 2019 bringing both the highest number of complaints and the highest dollar losses reported since the center was established in May 2000.
There were 68,013 people over the age of 60 who reported being victimized last year, and their total reported loss was $835,164,766.
Victims under the age of 20 reported cybercrime in 2019, they reported stiff losses, at a total of $421,169,232.
In all, the IC3 received 467,361 complaints last year - an average of nearly 1,300 every day, at a total swindle tally of more than $3.5 billion.
Information reported to the IC3 plays a vital role in the FBI's ability to understand our cyber adversaries and their motives, which, in turn, helps us to impose risks and consequences on those who break our laws and threaten our national security.