Cyber Crime on the Rise

November 16, 2010

If you think the concept of cyber-insurance is just a scam, consider this: last Tuesday (November 9th), the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) logged its two millionth complaint of online criminal activity.

The IC3 began operating in May, 2000, as a partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center, and it took seven years before it received its millionth complaint, which was logged on June 11, 2007. It took less than half that time to reach two million complaints but that may be partly because the IC3 is more visible, not only because the cyber crime rate is rising.

Cyber crime complaints made to the IC3 are then referred to local law enforcement agencies. So far, agencies around the world have been referred 757, 016 criminal complaints, the majority of which involve fraud, and the complainant suffering a financial loss. The total reported loss from these crimes is roughly $1.7 billion, with each complainant claiming about $500.

And how is this fraud being perpetrated? Well, most complainants point to identity theft, so be sure to add protection to your bank account or credit cards.

An earlier report from the FBI said that among Internet crimes, advanced fee scams that fraudulently used the FBI’s own name ranked number one.