Security News > 2022 > March > Cybercriminals made $7bn in pure profit in 2021, says FBI

The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center released its annual report compiled from 847,376 complaints it received in 2021.

There were 19,954 BEC complaints to the IC3 in 2021 that accounted for approximately $2.4bn in losses.

That's a seven-fold increase in the amount of cryptocurrency stolen in 2021 versus 2020, despite a decrease in the number of complaints year-over-year.

The FBI said that cryptocurrency scams have become a popular endgame for romance and confidence tricksters, with $429m of total crypto losses in 2021 attributable to their cons.

In 2021 cybercriminals earned $347m from such activities, a 137 percent increase from 2020.

Unsurprisingly, the FBI said that nearly 60 percent of tech support victims are over 60 years of age, and account for 68 percent of the total losses in this category.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2022/03/23/cybercriminals_made_7bn_2021/