FBI: Reported Cyber Crimes Cost $485M In 2011
Site: .atg.wa.gov
Crimes reported to the FBI’s Internet crime center in 2011 cost $485.3 million total, Molly Walker writes on FierceGovernment IT.
In 2011, the FBI received 314,246 complaints of Internet-related crime activity, up 3.4 percent from 2010.
The agency indicates this is the third year in a row it has received more than 300,000 reported issues, Walker writes.
IC3 estimates that each individual crime cost a median of $636 and the average loss for each reported issue was $4,187, IC3 found.
Individuals between the age of 40 and 59 make up the group of highest percentage of complaints to IC3, representing 40 percent of reported attacks in both 2010 and 2011.
Walker wrote the most common cyber attacks included scams that involved criminals posing as the FBI, consumers falling victim to paying in advance for a product that is never delivered, receiving requests to return excess funds and identity theft.
A Government Accountability Office official told House lawmakers in April that cyber attacks on the federal government have increased 680 percent since 2006.