The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) has released its latest annual report. The “2024 Internet Crime Report” combines information from 859,532 complaints of suspected Internet crime and details reported losses exceeding $16 billion – a 33% increase in losses from 2023.
According to the 2024 report, Alabama is ranked 26 out of all states in the number of complaints received by the public. As a group, people over the age of 60 suffered the most losses at over $33 million and submitted the greatest number of complaints.
The top three cybercrimes in Alabama by number of complaints, reported by victims in 2024 were: extortion, personal data breach and phishing/spoofing.
“In a technologically driven world, tools such as IC3 are important to help get ahead of the threat,” said Christopher DiMenna, acting special agent in charge, Birmingham Field Office. “It is the mechanism used to gather intelligence and to further investigations on cyber-enabled crime while facilitating the sharing of information with our industry and law enforcement partners, as well as the public.”
To promote public awareness, the IC3 produces an annual report to aggregate and highlight the data provided by the general public. The quality of the data is a direct reflection of the information the public provides through the IC3 Website. The IC3 standardizes the data by categorizing each complaint and analyzes the data to identify and forecast trends in Internet crime. The annual report helps the FBI develop effective relationships with industry partners and share information for investigative and intelligence purposes for law enforcement and public awareness.
The IC3, which was established in May 2000, houses nine million complaints from the public in its database and continues to encourage anyone who thinks they’ve been the victim of a cyber-enabled crime – regardless of dollar loss – to file a complaint through the IC3 Website. The more comprehensive complaints the FBI receives, the more effective it will be in helping law enforcement gain a more accurate picture of the extent and nature of Internet facilitated crimes.