Cybercrime brought in record sums again in 2023

© Unsplash/Lewis Kang'ethe Ngugi

Online crime is a problem that remains difficult to solve, as the latest FBI report on the issue shows again this year. Indeed, not only are there more and more victims each year, often with double-digit growth… the amounts that pirates manage to steal make you more and more dizzy.

Thus, in 2023, American Internet users and businesses have lost a whopping $12.5 billion in the hands of cybercriminals. In the United States (the study does not cover the rest of the world), the number of complaints related to online scams increased by almost 10% compared to 2022, or more than 880. 000 complaints.

Online scams are getting bigger and bigger

The amounts stolen have experienced a real explosion compared to last year. Especially since the FBI specifies that the dizzying increase of 22% compared to last year probably underestimates reality, given that many cybercrimes are ultimately not the subject of of a complaint.

The agency is observing a sharp increase in investment scams. They alone embezzled 4.57 billion dollars – up 38%. The drop in interest rates, and the renewed strength of the stock market, but also of crypto, is pushing many players to ride the wave.

< p>The FBI emphasizes that the majority of this type of scam was linked to cryptocurrencies ($3.94 billion, up 53% compared to 2022). Another scam on the rise: reverse engineering aimed at defrauding companies. A scam that most often begins with emails, and can cause enormous damage.

In fact, the criminals are trying to gain access to increasingly sensitive systems by posing as staff members. We are talking here about 2.9 billion dollars in losses for American companies. The latest type of cyberattack that is still very popular: 'tech support scams', in other words technical support scams.

These may start with a popup or email claiming that the victim's computer is infected with viruses. Then follows a long manipulation by telephone to extract large sums of money from the victim. This type of attack grew by 15% to reach nearly $1 billion.

In addition, ransomware remains strong with complaints up 74% and losses totaling $59.6 million. Overall, protecting yourself against all of these attacks requires caution on the part of Internet users, and always checking information that is likely to push them to commit a potentially sensitive action.

Some of these risks can, however, be avoided by installing an antivirus suite like Bitdefender Total Security. These are effective, both for restricting, in companies, the IPs that can access the intranet, as well as for eliminating ransomware, and even blocking phishing attempts thanks to a continuously updated blocklist of malicious domains. .

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• The latest FBI report on the issue highlights a strong increase in victims but also and above all in the amounts captured by pirates, in 2023.
• L& #8217;investment are particularly prevalent at the moment.
• Although it does not protect against all online risks, an antivirus can prevent most of them. this kind of scam.

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