Cyber scams are skyrocketing, costing Americans $16B — and this state lost the most to online fraudsters

Cyber scams skyrocketed successful 2024, pinch integer fraudsters stealing $16 cardinal from Americans — a 33% summation from nan erstwhile year, according to FBI information released connected Thursday.

The FBI’s annual Internet Crime Report tracks complaints and losses via online extortion, phishing scams, phony investments, and different e-crimes.

Across nan country, Californians proved to beryllium nan biggest schmucks of all, forking complete a staggering $2.5 cardinal to integer desperados.

That’s $1.2 cardinal much than nan adjacent highest state, Texas, which is nan only different authorities pinch much than 30 cardinal people.

California besides had nan highest per-capita losses of states pinch comparable populations ($6.4 cardinal per 100,000 citizens), and it classed 4th overall, down only Washington, DC, Wyoming and Nevada.

By contrast, Texas, Florida, and New York had losses of only astir $4.5 cardinal per 100,000 citizens.

In total, nan FBI received much than 850,000 cybercrime complaints past year.

Elderly group were nan astir communal victims. — almost 30% of full monetary losses were from group complete 60.

The astir communal scam — pinch astir 193,000 complaints — was phishing/spoofing, successful which personification uses a mendacious personality to person group to stock their individual details. Common phishing scams see clone toll bills, package transportation notices aliases billing statements.

Next connected nan database are extortion (86,415 complaints), individual information breach (64,882 complaints), and payment/non-delivery scams (49,572 complaints), successful which group salary for items they ne'er person aliases don’t person costs for thing they’ve sold.

To support from getting ripped disconnected online, the FBI says to intimately cheque nan email reside aliases telephone number down immoderate unsolicited connection and to ne'er click links from unsolicited messages.

The agency besides advises utilizing anti-virus software; utilizing varied, strong, and frequently-updated passwords; ne'er ligament money straight to a seller aliases salary utilizing gift cards; and ever investigation a business and cheque its URL earlier forking complete cash.