The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) released its 2023 Internet Crime Report. The report tracked complaints from over 880,000 sources and a record number of potential losses exceeding $12.5 billion. This represents a nearly 10% increase in complaints received and a 22% increase in losses suffered, compared to the previous year. Investment scams were the costliest type of online crime tracked by IC3, which rose by 38% and totaled $4.57 billion. The 2nd costliest was business e-mail compromise (BEC), with 21,489 complaints amounting to $2.9 billion in reported losses, and the third costliest was tech support scams. The FBI has observed emerging ransomware trends in 2023, such as the deployment of multiple ransomware variants against the same victim and the use of data-destruction tactics to increase pressure on victims to negotiate. Ransomware reported losses increased 74% from $34.3 million to $59.6 million in 2023.

Ransomware and Critical Infrastructure Sectors
The IC3 received 1,193 complaints from organizations belonging to a critical infrastructure sector that were affected by a ransomware attack. They received eight ransomware complaints from water and wastewater systems sector entities.

The FBI reminds us that as impressive as these figures appear, we know they are conservative regarding cybercrime in 2023. Consider that when the FBI recently infiltrated the Hive ransomware group’s infrastructure, they found that only about 20% of Hive’s victims reported to law enforcement. More reporting from victims would mean superior insight for the FBI. For more information regarding the FBI’s Internet Crime Report, access Bleeping Computer or The Record.

Access the full report below.