New Report Shows What Internet
Scams Cost Americans Most
Internet Fraud
Complaint Center's annual data trends report offers data and statistics
on the prevalence and impact of Internet fraud in the U.S.
RICHMOND,
VA
- April 9, 2002 - Nearly 43 percent of all reported Internet fraud
comes from auction fraud, according to the Internet Fraud Complaint
Center's annual data trends report. The IFCC, a partnership between
the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National White Collar
Crime Center (NW3C), today released an annual compilation of information
on complaints received from victims and referred to law enforcement
during its first full year of operation. Non-deliverable merchandise
and non-payment accounted for 20.3 percent of complaints and Nigerian
Letter fraud made up nearly 15.5 percent of complaints. Credit/debit
card fraud and confidence fraud round out the top five categories
of complaints referred to law enforcement during the year. Nigerian
letter fraud ($5,575), identity theft ($3,000), and investment fraud
($1,000) complainants filed the highest median dollar losses.
During the report
period that spans January 1, 2001 through December 31, 2001, complaints
filed with the IFCC totaled 49,711, with unique Web hits to the site
(www.ifccfbi.gov) totaling nearly 17.1 million. Many of the complaints
the IFCC has taken involve incidents like computer intrusion, hacking,
and child pornography and were not Internet-fraud specific. All complaints
received by the IFCC are reviewed and referred on behalf of the person
filing the complaint. Of the on-line filings, the IFCC referred 16,775
Internet fraud complaints to law enforcement or regulatory agencies
across the nation. Efforts from the IFCC-sponsored initiative called
"Operation Cyber Loss," resulted in criminal charges being
brought against approximately 90 individuals. The fraud schemes exposed
by the May 2001 initiative represented over 56,000 victims who suffered
cumulative losses in excess of $117 million. Additional scheme take
down initiatives are pending.
"Fraud committed
via the Internet makes investigation and prosecution difficult because
the offender and victim may be located thousands of miles apart. This
borderless phenomena is a unique characteristic of Internet crime
and is not found with many other types of traditional crime,"
said Thomas Richardson, Deputy Assistant Director, Criminal Investigative
Division of the FBI. "Jurisdictional issues often require the
cooperation of multiple agencies to resolve a case. This is a hallmark
of the IFCC. It streamlines the case initiation effort and saves victims
and enforcement agencies a great deal of time."
The number of
complaints to the IFCC is rising rapidly. While the primary mission
of the IFCC is to address Internet fraud, the IFCC served a critical
role for the United States starting on September 11, 2001. On that
date, just hours after the terrorist attacks in New York, Pennsylvania,
and metropolitan Washington, DC, the IFCC Web site served as the mechanism
by which people filed on-line tips with the FBI regarding these attacks.
Tens of thousands of tips were received and processed in real-time
in the months following the tragedies and some of the information
received proved useful for the prevention of further terrorist acts
and the subsequent criminal investigation. With the IFCC's recent
role in collecting terrorist tips for the FBI, the activity to its
Web site has soared and fraud complaints are expected to show a dramatic
increase.
"We anticipate
the number of complaints to rise from 1,000 a week to 1,000 a day,"
said Richard L. Johnston, Director of the NW3C. "We know more
Internet crime is out there, it's just a matter of victims knowing
where to go to report it and then actually reporting it."
For more information
on the IFCC, or to obtain a copy of the 2001 annual data trends report,
visit www.ifccfbi.gov. Tips on preventing Internet and computer-related
fraud can also be found on the IFCC Web site.
About the
NW3C
Funded by a grant from the Department of Justice, Office of Justice
Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance, the NW3C is a non-profit organization
that provides a national support network for state and local law enforcement
agencies involved in the prevention, investigation, and prosecution
of economic and high-tech crime. More information on the NW3C and
its initiatives is available at www.nw3c.org.
About the
IFCC
The IFCC is a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation
and the National White Collar Crime Center and began operating in
May 2000. The IFCC Web site is located at www.ifccfbi.gov.
