Fraudulent schemes are having more and more space on the Internet, where the FBI has already studied the problem in the United States of America (USA), and released the conclusions in a new report.
The document shows an increase in ransomware attacks and spam calls, as well as a growth in text messages and emails: in the last year alone, have already resulted in more than $10 billion lost. In addition, the FBI concluded that people over 60 are the most affected group.
Although the number of complaints decreased by 5% in 2022 compared to the previous year, the financial loss was much greater, increasing from 6,9 billion to more than 10,2 billion dollars in one year.
Gizmodo consulted the FBI report and compiled the top online scams that affected Americans in the past year.
4 - Ransomware
Bearing in mind that more may have occurred without the FBI's knowledge, last year, 2.385 ransomware complaints were filed. Scammers usually gain access to data on a computer and, as a result of making it public, demand a “ransom”.
This type of attack accounted for over $34,3 million in total losses.
3 – Call Center
According to the FBI, this type of scam mainly affects the elderly, "many of whom are not exactly active online". In numbers, last year, almost half of the victims were over 60 years old, representing 69% of the total financial losses.
BUT: Victims of ransomware attacks almost doubled in 2022
In addition, the document reveals that individuals aged between 50 and 59 represented only 9%, and groups aged 20, 30 and 40 represented 5% or less each.
2 -Business Email Compromise (BEC)
The Business Email Compromisse is a scheme that consists of sending an email, on behalf of a known entity, making a legitimate request to a company employee.
According to the FBI report, last year, in the USA, almost 22.000 complaints were reported, which resulted in a financial loss of more than 2,7 billion dollars.
1 – Investments
Overall, taking into account all investment-related schemes, scams involving cryptocurrency were the most significant: more people affected and greater financial impact.
In numbers, from 3,6 billion dollars, the cryptocurrency represented more than 2,5 billion dollars in losses; the first increased 127% from 2021 to 2022, and the second climbed 183%
