FBI’s Internet Crime Report Out

There are a couple of surprises that I found in the IC3 report that was released today.  First, online auction fraud was the top complaint.  People were either being baited and switched or had no product delivered after payment.  Secondly, men were clear leaders in the numbers of victims and in the dollar amount lost.  And thirdly, the costliest of online fraud remains the Nigerian Advance Fee fraud scheme.

From the FBI’s website here:

During 2006, consumers filed 207,492 complaints. Complainants said they lost $198.4 million, the highest total ever.

Types of fraud: Nearly 45 percent of the complaints involved online auction fraud—such as getting a different product than you expected—making it the largest category; more than 19 percent concerned undelivered merchandise or payments. Another pervasive scheme last year involved an e-mail threat of murder.

Males lost more money than females (ratio of $1.69 dollars lost per male to every $1.00 dollar lost per female). This may be a function of both online purchasing differences by gender and the type of fraudulent schemes by which the individuals were victimized.

Individuals who reported losing money lost an average of $724; the highest losses involved Nigerian letter fraud, with a median loss of $5,100.

The 2006 statistics don’t represent the universe of Internet crime, since they are based on submitted reports, but they do provide important insights for investigators and a benchmark from year to year. The idea is to help us better understand the threat, so we can better protect you and your families.