FBI Reports Record $16.6 Billion in Cybercrime Losses Despite Decline in Complaints for 2024

The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) has released its 2024 Annual Report, revealing over $16.6 billion in reported losses, a 33% increase from 2023. Despite the rise in cybercrime losses, the number of complaints received declined slightly in 2024, totaling 860,000, down from 880,000 in the previous year.

source: IC3 2024 Annual Report

Over the past five years, IC3 has processed 4.2 million complaints, with cumulative losses exceeding $50.5 billion. Since its inception in 2000, IC3 has amassed over 9 million complaints.

Phishing and spoofing attacks ranked as the most frequently reported crimes, followed by extortion attempts and personal data breaches. While investment fraud accounted for fewer total complaints, it caused the highest financial losses, exceeding $6.57 billion. Other major threats include Business Email Compromise (BEC) fraud – $2.77 billion in losses, Tech support scams – $1.46 billion in losses, and Personal data breaches – over $1.45 billion in losses. 

Cyber-enabled fraud accounted for 83% of all reported losses, totaling $13.7 billion, despite making up just 38% of complaints. Call center scams, including cryptocurrency exchange impersonation and tech support scams, contributed $1.9 billion in losses.

Cyber threats caused over $1.57 billion in reported losses across 260,000 complaints. Critical infrastructure organizations filed more than 4,800 complaints, reporting mostly ransomware and data breaches. The most reported ransomware families included Akira, LockBit, RansomHub, Fog, and Play. In 2024, the IC3 identified 67 new ransomware variants.

IC3 received cybercrime complaints from 200 countries in 2024, with the United States leading in volume at 102,000, followed by Canada (7,000) and India (4,000).