Internet Crime Losses Soar to $16.6 Billion in 2024, FBI Reports
Investment fraud—especially involving cryptocurrency—drove record-breaking losses as cybercrime complaints made to IC3 hit 859,000 last year.
The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) recorded $16.6 billion in losses related to internet crime in 2024, a staggering 33% increase from the previous year, according to its Annual Internet Crime Report released April 23.
The report tallied 859,532 complaints filed in 2024, with an average reported loss of $19,372 per complaint. The number of complaints is slightly higher than the five-year average of 836,000 and includes incidents reported both in the U.S. and internationally.
Since 2020, the IC3 has received more than 4.2 million complaints, representing over $50.5 billion in losses. However, as the figures only include reports made to IC3, the true total loss is likely to be significantly higher.
The most common cybercrimes reported by victims in 2024 were phishing/spoofing, extortion and personal data breaches. However, the largest financial losses came from investment fraud, which totalled over $6.5 billion in victim-reported losses.
Fraud was the dominant category of internet crime in 2024, while ransomware remained the most persistent threat to critical infrastructure, with complaints up 9% from 2023.
“As nearly all aspects of our lives have become digitally connected, the attack surface for cyber actors has grown exponentially,” said B. Chad Yarbrough, Operations Director for Criminal and Cyber at the FBI. “Scammers are increasingly using the Internet to steal Americans’ hard-earned savings.”
The FBI also highlighted the older population as a primary target. Individuals over 60 years old submitted the most complaints and sustained the highest financial losses.
Cryptocurrency-related fraud continues to surge. In 2024 alone, the IC3 received 149,686 complaints related to crypto and over $9.3 billion in losses, representing an increase of 66% funds lost compared to the previous year. More than $5.8 billion was tied directly to crypto investment fraud—up 47% from 2023.
There was also a notable rise in crimes involving crypto ATMs and kiosks, which were the subject of 10,956 complaints and $247 million in losses, marking a 99% spike in complaints year over year. The most common scam types linked to ATMs were extortion, tech support scams, government impersonation and investment fraud.
Extortion and sextortion involving crypto saw 54,936 complaints and $33.5 million in losses, a 59% and 9% increase respectively from the year prior.
Cyber-enabled fraud, which includes internet-based scams such as identity theft and counterfeit service schemes, accounted for 83% of all reported losses to IC3 in 2024.
Cyber threats aimed at disrupting, stealing, or destroying data—including ransomware, viruses, and denial-of-service attacks—led to 263,455 complaints and $1.571 billion in losses. Of these, more than 4,800 complaints came from critical infrastructure organisations, which remain key targets for ransomware and data breach attempts.
Internationally, Hong Kong was the top destination for fraudulent wire transfers, followed by Vietnam, Mexico, the Philippines, India and China.
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