The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) reported a record $16.6 billion (₹1.38 lakh crore) in losses due to cyber-enabled crime in 2024, a significant 33% surge from 2023 levels.
The escalation highlights the ongoing expansion of the digital attack surface and the growing sophistication of cybercriminal activity targeting individuals and critical infrastructure across the United States.
Ransomware and Cryptocurrency Fraud Dominate Incident Landscape
The IC3, which has evolved from a law enforcement resource to the nation’s primary cybercrime reporting portal, handled an unprecedented 859,532 complaints in 2024.
This marks a daily average of over 2,000 complaints, reflecting the omnipresence of digital threats in everyday life.
Notably, 256,256 of these complaints were associated with confirmed financial losses, with each affected party losing an average of $19,372.
A key driver of 2024’s record losses was the proliferation of cyber-enabled fraud, accounting for about 83% of the total reported loss at $13.7 billion.
Investment fraud, much of it involving cryptocurrencies, was the single largest contributor, with investors losing $6.57 billion. 4
Business Email Compromise (BEC) scams caused $2.77 billion in damages, while tech support scams and personal data breaches accounted for $1.46 billion and $1.45 billion respectively.
The report also identifies ransomware as the most pervasive threat to critical infrastructure for the second consecutive year, with ransomware complaints up 9% from 2023.
The FBI’s interventions included disrupting major ransomware groups, such as LockBit, and providing over 1,000 decryption keys to victims since 2022, preventing upwards of $800 million in ransomware payments.
New ransomware variants, including Akira, LockBit, RansomHub, FOG, and PLAY, were among the most reported, underscoring the rapidly evolving nature of this threat.
Senior Citizens Emerge as Prime Targets for Cybercriminals
Senior citizens, particularly those above 60, have increasingly borne the brunt of these attacks, losing $4.8 billion in 2024 alone-a 43% increase year-over-year.
The FBI highlighted the vulnerability of older adults to sophisticated scams, including tech support fraud, romance scams, and aggressive investment schemes frequently leveraging cryptocurrencies.
In fact, cryptocurrency fraud losses soared to $9.3 billion in 2024, up 66% from 2023, with the 60+ age group being the most heavily targeted.
Geographically, California led the nation both in number of complaints and total losses, followed by Texas, Florida, and New York.
International collaboration, particularly with Indian law enforcement agencies such as the CBI, resulted in a 700% increase in arrests related to transnational call center fraud compared to the previous year.
Despite extensive enforcement efforts-including Operation Level Up to combat cryptocurrency investment fraud and the proactive dismantling of illicit cyber networks-the report underscores the relentless evolution of cybercrime.
The FBI continues to stress the critical importance of public reporting via IC3, which enables rapid detection, mitigation, and asset recovery.
The agency reiterates its commitment to safeguarding citizens, infrastructure, and digital assets, emphasizing that timely reporting and inter-agency cooperation remain pivotal in the face of escalating and increasingly complex cyber threats.
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