Cybercrime losses hit record high in 2023

Cybercrime losses rose to a record high of $12.8 billion in 2023, according to the latest Federal Bureau of Investigation Internet Crime Report, published earlier this week.

In 2023, the FBI noted that it fielded 880,418 cybercrime complaints, a 10% uptick from the year prior. The potential losses from these complaints also rose to a record high, jumping 22% from the prior year. While these increases are sizable, the FBI believes they are likely even larger, noting that cybercrime incidents are still underreported.

“The cyber landscape is threatened by a multitude of malicious actors who have the tools to conduct large-scale fraud schemes, hold our money and data for ransom, and endanger our national security,” Timothy Langan, the executive assistant director for the FBI, said in a statement. “Profit-driven cybercriminals and nation-state adversaries alike have the capability to paralyze entire school systems, police departments, healthcare facilities, and individual private sector entities. The FBI continues to combat this evolving cyber threat. Our strategy focuses on building strong partnerships with the private sector, removing threats from U.S. networks, pulling back the cloak of anonymity many of these actors hide behind and hitting cybercriminals where it hurts: their wallets, including their virtual wallets.”

In 2023, the FBI received 21,489 complaints about business email compromise, which is how most real estate fraud is conducted, totaling to $2.9 billion in losses, making it the second costliest type of crime for the year behind investment scams.

Overall, real estate related cybercrimes resulted in a total of $145.243 million in losses, while data breaches and ransomware attacks, which have also recently plagued the real estate industry, resulted in $534.397 million and $59.641 million in losses, respectively.

However, it was not all bad news. By activating the Financial Fraud Kill Chain, which is a process to freeze the fraudulent recipient’s financial bank account, on 3,008 incidents, the Internet Crime Complaint Center’s Recovery Asset Team was able to help protect $758 million in potential losses.

Both wire fraud prevention firm CertifID and the American Land Title Association recommend educating consumers about the risks of wire fraud and they steps they can take to ensure that their transaction remains secure.