FBI Says Cybercrime Skyrocketing

Cybercrime, which includes identify theft, phishing and other nefarious online acts, is on the grow despite the efforts of law enforcement and security firms.

eSecurityPlanet details where the growth is, including a certain irony behind the most popular type of e-mail scam.

The latest data from the FBI

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s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) confirms what online banks, security software vendors and Internet users have been complaining about for years: cybercrime is skyrocketing and costing people millions of dollars with no end in sight.

The report (available here in PDF format) from the IC3, a partnership between the FBI, the Bureau of Justice Assistance and the National White Collar Crime Center, found that the total number of cybercrime complaints rose 22 percent in 2009 to 336,655 cases, but less than half of those crimes (146,663) were forwarded to authorities for investigation and prosecution.

Almost $560 million in losses related to identity theft, phishing scams and outright fraud were reported last year, more than double the $264.4 million lost in 2008 despite increased consumer awareness and reporting.

Read the full story at Datamation:

Cyber Crooks Doubled Their Take in ’09