Costs Of Online Fraud Doubled In 2009 From 2008

Online crime complaints increased substantially once again last year, according to the 2009 annual report from the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), a partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C). The IC3 received a total of 336,655 complaints, a 22.3 percent increase from 2008. The total loss linked to online fraud was $559.7 million, up from $265 million in 2008.

 
Although the complaints consisted of a variety of fraud types, advanced fee scams ranked number one (16.6 percent). Non-delivery of merchandise and/or payment was the second most reported offense (11.9 percent).
 
NW3C Director Donald Brackman said the report's findings underscore the threat posed by cyber criminals. “The figures contained in this report indicate that criminals are continuing to take full advantage of the anonymity afforded them by the Internet. They are also developing increasingly sophisticated means of defrauding unsuspecting consumers. Internet crime is evolving in ways we couldn't have imagined just five years ago.”