The Consumer Federation of America (CFA) estimates that online scams cost Americans almost $150 billion last year – seven times the amount reported to the FBI.
The organization says that the number of cyber scams is increasing dramatically, and that most victims never report their losses to law enforcement …
Victims of cybercrime can file a report with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, but very few do. CNET notes that a federal survey found that only around 14% of financial fraud victims reported the crime to any law enforcement body.
Applying that ratio to the total sums reported leads to the CFA’s estimate of total losses amounting to $148.2 billion. Unsurprisingly, crypto and other investment scams head the list.
More than half of the losses reported to the FBI involved cryptocurrency. Victims reported losing nearly $11.4 billion in crypto-related incidents, up about 22% from the previous year. The Consumer Federation of America estimates the true cost could be closer to $80.7 billion […]
