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Americans Lost a Record $10.3 Billion To Online Scammers Last Year, FBI Says (wsj.com) 31

Americans lost more than $10 billion to online scammers last year, new government data show, the highest level since the Federal Bureau of Investigation began tracking losses in 2000. From a report: The FBI said its Internet Crime Complaint Center, or IC3, recorded more than 800,000 complaints in 2022, or more than 2,000 complaints a day. So-called phishing expeditions represented the largest number of scams with more than 300,000 complaints, the FBI said in a report. Phishing usually involves the use of unsolicited email, text messages and phone calls, purportedly from a legitimate company, requesting personal or financial information.

"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. The total losses to online scammers rose to $10.3 billion last year from $6.9 billion in 2021. However, the overall number of complaints recorded by IC3 fell slightly from 2021.

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Americans Lost a Record $10.3 Billion To Online Scammers Last Year, FBI Says

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  • by backslashdot ( 95548 ) on Wednesday March 15, 2023 @09:55AM (#63372841)

    My phone numbers have been geting a lot of random adds into various groups in skype/whatsapp etc. most of my friends just do "Report & Block" .. but I just do "Report" andn stay in the group to watch. It's interesting how they work .. guaranteed a lot of people are getting scammed and enticed by the promises. The most common scam seems to be you get added to an investing group led by some guru. Many "people" in the forum praise that guru and say how it's a privilege to be invited to the investment training and guidance group. I bet many people fear missing out and invest based on the testimonies of those bots praising the guru. Anyway, I'll bet there are people putting money into these crypto scams for years watching the "value" of their crypto rise .. never trying to withdraw because they think it's gaining in value rapidly and they can retire on it. Also, btw "Report" seems to do nothing. I've never seen WhatsApp bother to block those idiots. I don't understand how by default any idiot can add you to a group and start sending you messages.

    • Yeah, I'm noticing a TON of text message (group) spam recently:

      Your ___ Account has been locked. We recently received multiple failed login attempts to your account.

      Recover your account immediately click link below:
      SUSPICIOUS LINK.

      Please take action on your account with 48 hours to avoid permanent suspension.

      Regards,
      ___ Service

      I'm not sure what changed this year that suddenly I'm getting a ton of group text message spam. Anyone know?

      • Yeah, I'm noticing a TON of text message (group) spam recently. *** I'm not sure what changed this year that suddenly I'm getting a ton of group text message spam. Anyone know?

        In my experience, it comes and goes. A wave of viagra spam. Then a wave of lottery wins. Then a wave of lost inheritances. Then a wave of...whatever.

        So, I don't think anything has changed. it's just that most scammers are pretty dumb, and just copy what someone else has set up. One smart scammer sets up a botnet to do X, and sells access to 999 idiots, who then all wind up sending out variations on the same theme. The smart one may well profit more from his sales than from the actual scam.

        This is all just

    • by ranton ( 36917 )

      I'm curious what gets counted as scams. I see these message threads on YouTube where someone asks for help managing their investments and then someone starts talking about how great their financial advisor is. It is all obviously a scam by my definition, but it might just be considered an unscrupulous financial advisor trying to get leads.

      • It's a scam when you send them money and they have a fake "dashboard" showing you that your investment is growing. Of course you cannot withdraw the money, like ever.

      • by vlad30 ( 44644 )
        Do they include Bitcoin, other cryptocurrencies and NFT's in the scams
    • Our technological adolescence brings with it a need for higher intelligence and critical thinking just to survive. Some people just don't have the mental chops to protect themselves from these scams. They can't realistically live offline, so, they are exposed and vulnerable (and invariably fall victim to these scams).

      To the degree that this is education-based, we certainly need to do a better job educating. To the degree that this is genetic, well, scammed people are poor people and poor people breed a l

  • This is so sad I intend to sell a collectible limited series of NFTs commemorating this event.

  • These people need to make money too. #hyperbole

  • by bradley13 ( 1118935 ) on Wednesday March 15, 2023 @10:16AM (#63372893) Homepage

    A business I am associated with just started requiring the use of the Microsoft Authenticator. So just today, I entered "Microsoft Authenticator App" in the Google Play Store. The real app was the second entry in the list. The first entry is almost certainly a scam - pardon me for not downloading it to find out, but it's certainly not from Microsoft. I'm sure it will get kicked off the Play Store shortly, but: how many people will download and install it before then?

    This is just one anecdote, but it is typical for today's internet. Scammers are technically hard to find, there are too bloody many of them for police forces to realistically deal with, and anyway, they often hide across international borders.

    How can we solve these problems?

    • by MachineShedFred ( 621896 ) on Wednesday March 15, 2023 @10:32AM (#63372955) Journal

      How can we solve these problems?

      Strangely enough, the easiest solution is also a solution to many other large problems we face today: education.

      Unfortunately, that solution has some entrenched political adversaries that absolutely do not want a better educated public, because then more of the public will stop buying the overwhelming amount of bullshit they're selling.

      • by gweihir ( 88907 )

        Indeed. The best fix is to qualify people to fact-check. Obviously a lot of the political spectrum does not want that to happen.

      • the easiest solution is also a solution to many other large problems we face today: education.

        That might be a solution, but it is certainly not an easy one, let alone the easiest.
        Unless the education is simply to tell people to hang up if they hear an Indian accent, but that would not be politically correct.

  • That's small time. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Gravis Zero ( 934156 ) on Wednesday March 15, 2023 @10:30AM (#63372949)

    US companies steal $40B+ per year via wage theft. https://techniciansforchange.o... [techniciansforchange.org]

    More scammers need to go to prison, be it online individuals or white collar execs.

  • I think it was just a bit more than that.
  • by beforewisdom ( 729725 ) on Wednesday March 15, 2023 @10:46AM (#63372997)
    Cultivate the habit of hanging up and checking the situation out at the web site for the organization. Most organizations have policies that they will not contact you first. Hang up, go to the web. Shower. Rinse. Repeat
    • Why even answer if you don't recognize the number? I get almost no actual calls - anyone that knows me will either text or FB message me - so I figure it's almost always a scammer if I get an unrecognized call. If it's important, they'll leave a message and I can get back to them.
  • They aren't paying taxes on their income, the IRS should get involved.

  • Not this American. WTF? Maybe we should let the people stupid* enough to fall for this shit to fail. Given: I've been a software developer since 1974 and my paranoia is so ingrained that it doesn't even look like paranoia anymore. It's called smaaatz, folks**. That's all! * it did happen once, about 20 years ago. But as soon as the the guy with an Indian accent called me and told me my Windows computer had a virus and he needed to access it remotely, and I told him I have no "Windows computer", and he got

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