Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the principal law enforcement agency of the United States, has received a record 1 million complaints related to online scams and investment frauds in the last 14 months. It took the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Centre (IC3) seven years to log its first million complaints, but the most recent million just took 14 months, the agency said. On May 15, 2021, the IC3 reached the 6-million complaint mark. The IC3, besides supporting the Bureau in law enforcement, collects and reports data in an annual report and educates the public by sharing notices about new scams or increase in a certain type of crimes.
According to the FBI, there was nearly a 70 percent rise in the overall number of complaints between 2019 and 2020. Phishing scams, non-payment/non-delivery scams, and extortion were among the top three reported crimes in the past year, the agency said in its report. It further said that individuals lost their money to business email compromise scams, romance and confidence schemes, and investment frauds.
Donna Gregory, the IC3 chief, says the rising numbers hold some “positive news”. She explains, “People know how to find us and how to report an incident.” More reporting makes the FBI more effective in investigating cyber-enabled crime. Gregory said, “These numbers indicate more people are being affected by online crimes and scams”.
The FBI also said that the year 2020 saw new scams exploiting COVID-19, adding that the rise…
