FBI: Cybercrime losses hit record-breaking $16.6B last year

The U.S. was reported by the FBI to have lost $16.6 billion from cybercriminal activity last year, which is the highest on record, according to CyberScoop.

Almost 83% of the recorded cybercrime losses last year, which amounted to $13.7 billion, were attributed to cyber-enabled fraud, with individuals older than 60 disclosing the most complaints and highest financial losses, which were 46% and 43% higher than in 2023, respectively, a report from the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center revealed. Meanwhile, California, Texas, and Florida had the highest number of complaints and losses from those aged 60 and older. Mounting fraud incidence last year has also been linked to cryptocurrency ATMs and kiosks. Additional findings showed ransomware-related complaints increased by 9% between 2023 and 2024, with Akira, LockBit, RansomHub, Fog, and Play being the most dominant variants. Such an increase in cybercrime-related losses has been accompanied by intensified law enforcement crackdowns, with the FBI and other countries' law enforcement agencies conducting 700% more arrests via joint operations, compared with 2023.