The FBI said scammers were able to make record profits off of Americans last year. Americans were out more than $10 billion dollars, the most successful scammers have been since the FBI started tracking the data.
More than 800,000 scams, or more than 2,000 per day, were reported last year. Total losses were up from $6.9 billion in 2021 to $10.3 billion in 2022. About a third of those losses came from the pockets of seniors 60 and older in the U.S.
The number one way scammers claimed their victims was through so-called phishing expeditions. These unfold when a victim receives unsolicited emails, phone calls or texts of someone pretending to be someone else requesting the victim’s financial information.
300,000 phishing scams were reported, accounting for more than one third of all reported scams.
Investment scams more than doubled year-over-year. Cryptocurrency investment fraud nearly tripled from $907 million in losses to $2.5 billion.
An FBI spokesperson said the rise in scams is cause for greater concern.
“Today’s cyber landscape has provided ample opportunities for criminals and adversaries to target U.S. networks, attack our critical infrastructure, hold our money and data for ransom, facilitate large-scale fraud schemes, and threaten our national security,” FBI Executive Assistant Director Timothy Langan said.
