A recent FBI report revealed that Americans faced a staggering $10.3 billion in losses due to various online scams. This marked the highest losses in five years, with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) receiving over 2,000 complaints daily.
Phishing
The most prevalent scams reported were phishing expeditions, affecting 300,497 victims. Those attacks resulted in losses exceeding $52 million in 2022. Phishing attacks come in many varieties. In general, they often include deceitful emails, texts, or calls posing as legitimate entities, tricking individuals into sharing personal, financial, or login information.
Data Breaches
Data breaches and non-payment scams ranked next in common online threats, impacting 58,859 and 51,679 victims, respectively. Meanwhile, ransomware, a cyber intrusion which locks up data until a ransom is paid, also raised major concerns. In 2022, the FBI recorded 2,385 ransomware complaints with losses surpassing $34.3 million.
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