Ani Petrosyan
Research expert for cybersecurity and cybercrime
Online fraud in the United States - Statistics & Facts
Online fraud is an intended action by threat actors to trick the targets into potentially harmful actions that can result in victims losing money and personal or confidential information or causing other damage. While online fraud is considered cybercrime, its main difference from other online crimes is that it tricks victims into performing harmful actions voluntarily. In the United States, the number of cybercrime incidents, including online fraud, has increased significantly in the past few years, from around 467,000 in 2019 to more than 880,000 in 2023. Accordingly, the monetary losses caused by cyber criminals have also seen a spike from 3.5 billion U.S. dollars to 12.5 billion U.S. dollars in the same measured period.
The online fraud landscape has changed in recent years. Social media has become the contact method for the costliest scam encounters, and online shopping scams were the most common type of scam on social media. Additionally, the usage of generative AI has made it easier to create and use deep fakes in various forms of online scam.
Phishing
Phishing remains among the most challenging security threats for individuals and organizations worldwide. In the United States, the number of phishing reports to law enforcement was nearly 299,000 in 2023. Mobile phishing attacks are also widespread, with most of them being reported in North America. Phishing simulations are a good way of determining the vulnerability of organizations. In 2023 phishing attack simulations, business services, consulting, telecommunications, construction, and entertainment showed the lowest resistance rate.Business e-mail compromise (BEC)
In 2023, law enforcement in the United States registered more than 21,000 individuals targeted by business e-mail compromise (BEC ) attacks. These are types of cyberattacks where the threat actor targets a company impersonating and defrauding an organization. The financial losses caused by business e-mail compromise attacks amounted to 2.94 billion U.S. dollars in 2023, up from 2,74 billion U.S. dollars in 2022.Impersonation scams
Impersonation of companies or brands is one of the forms of online fraud. Best Buy/Geek Squad was the company impersonated in most scams in the United States, followed by Amazon. Microsoft has come up in 68 percent of online brand abuse incidents. In 2023, impersonation cases resulted in 208 million U.S. dollars of financial loss via cryptocurrency payments.Seniors targeted by online scams
Fraud campaigns usually target the most vulnerable groups. Taking advantage of the often limited tech skills of older adults, they succeed in tricking them in most cases. In 2023, individuals 60 years and older in the United States filed the highest number of complaints about cybercrime, including various types of online fraud. Furthermore, older individuals faced the highest financial losses as a group, amounting to 3.4 billion U.S. dollars annually. Tech support fraud was the most frequently reported cybercrime among adults over 60 years old. However, investment scams caused seniors the highest financial losses.The online fraud landscape has changed in recent years. Social media has become the contact method for the costliest scam encounters, and online shopping scams were the most common type of scam on social media. Additionally, the usage of generative AI has made it easier to create and use deep fakes in various forms of online scam.
