FBI warns: 2,000 complaints per day of cyber scams in the United States

While more than 40% of companies in France have already suffered cyber attacks according to Statista figures, the data from the other side of the Atlantic are even more worrying.

After a long study carried out by the FBI in the United States, it would seem that cybercrime is ultimately at an all-time high. Between online fraud, scams on online sales sites, and even computer viruses hidden in software, all of this is enough to worry the authorities...

Cybercrime up 33%

Like every year, the FBI publishes its IC3 (Internet Crime Center) report to reveal the latest figures on cybercrime in the United States. Although we can expect an increase in attacks, given the use of digital technology which increases from one year to the next, the report for the year 2024, published this Wednesday, April 23, announces an increase of 33%.

Indeed, according to the FBI, 16.5 billion dollars were stolen from American citizens. According to Cynthia Kaiser, assistant director for digital at the FBI, this figure could even go much higher, because the total amount only takes into account data that the authorities have knowledge of.

2,000 complaints filed every day

While the sum of $16.6 billion is already very impressive, the number of complaints recorded daily is just as impressive.

With nearly 860,000 people who are expected to file complaints for cybercrime-related matters in 2024, this corresponds to 2,000 complaints per day in the United States.

This number of complainants, which is declining according to the IC3 report, is all the more worrying when considered in relation to the total amount of damages. Analysts believe these figures can be partly explained by advances in artificial intelligence, which can, in some cases, facilitate scams.

Seniors in the sights of cybercriminals

Since the emergence of social networks and increasingly accessible smartphones, digital technology has become a habit for those over 60. Perceived as highly vulnerable, naive, and easy to target, seniors alone represent 17% of complaints for a total of $4.8 billion.

With a sharp increase of 43% in this age group compared to 2023, it is highly likely that the American authorities will soon launch awareness-raising operations if they do not want the figure to increase further when the report for 2025 is released...