Cyber scams skyrocketed in 2024, with digital fraudsters stealing $16 billion from Americans — a 33% increase from the previous year, according to FBI data released on Thursday.
The FBI’s annual Internet Crime Report tracks complaints and losses via online extortion, phishing scams, phony investments, and other e-crimes.
Across the country, Californians proved to be the biggest schmucks of all, forking over a staggering $2.5 billion to digital desperados.
That’s $1.2 billion more than the next highest state, Texas, which is the only other state with more than 30 million people.
California also had the highest per-capita losses of states with comparable populations ($6.4 million per 100,000 citizens), and it ranked fourth overall, behind only Washington, DC, Wyoming and Nevada.
By contrast, Texas, Florida, and New York had losses of only around $4.5 million per 100,000 citizens.
In total, the FBI received more than 850,000 cybercrime complaints last year.
Elderly people were the most common victims. — almost 30% of total monetary losses were from people over 60.
The most common scam — with around 193,000 complaints — was phishing/spoofing, in which someone uses a false identity to convince people to share their personal details. Common phishing scams include fake toll bills, package delivery notices or billing statements.
Next on the list are extortion (86,415 complaints), personal data breach (64,882 complaints), and payment/non-delivery scams (49,572 complaints), in which people pay for items they never receive or don’t receive payment for something they’ve sold.
To keep from getting ripped off online, the FBI says to closely check the email address or phone number behind any unsolicited message and to never click links from unsolicited messages.
The agency also advises using anti-virus software; using varied, strong, and frequently-updated passwords; never wire money directly to a seller or pay using gift cards; and always research a business and check its URL before forking over cash.
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