Simplified - FBI’s Internet Crime Report 2023

I recently read an amazing Internet Crime Report 2023 of FBI. Here is crisp summary from 34 pages with a special mention of Indian Law Enforcement (Central Bureau of Investigation - CBI & Cyber Crime Police, India). This is not a copy paste but custom written article after reading IC2023.

The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) released its 2023 Internet Crime Report. Established in May 2000, the IC3 operates an online portal (www.ic3.gov) to receive complaints from the general public on a wide array of internet-facilitated crimes.

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.

Top Stats

• USA lost record $12.5 billion to online crime in 2023
• Ransomware reported losses increased 74% from $34.3 million to $59.6 million in 2023.
• 1,193 complaints from organizations belonging to a critical infrastructure sector that were affected by a ransomware attack.
• Email remains a favorite choice for cybercriminals, who often deliver their attacks through malicious links or files.
• Majority of ransomware attack reports concerned attacks from LockBit (175), ALPHV/BlackCat (100), Akira (95), Royal (63), and Black Basta (41).
• Most Affected by Ransomware Variants (No of cases) - Healthcare (249), critical manufacturing (218), government facilities (156), information technology (137), financial services (122), and commercial facilities (87).

Top Scams

• Investment scams were the costliest type of online crime tracked by IC3, which rose by 38% and totaled $4.57 billion.
• Business e-mail compromise (BEC), with 21,489 complaints amounting to $2.9 billion in reported losses
• Tech/customer support and government impersonation scams targeting mostly the elderly, led to more than $1.3 billion in losses.
• Threat actors utilized custodial accounts held at financial institutions for cryptocurrency exchanges or third-party payment processors for quick fund disbursement.

Emerging Trends

• Deployment of multiple ransomware variants against the same victim
• Use of data-destruction tactics to increase pressure on victims to negotiate
• AI - Focus on targeting humans rather than technology has become lot easier with Gen AI. AI may dominate 2024 report with generative AI tools (e.g. WormGPT, FraudGPT)

Strange Facts

• FBI recently infiltrated the Hive ransomware group’s infrastructure, they found that only about 20% of Hive’s victims reported to law enforcement.
• Despite technological advancements and innovations in hacking domain, criminals still reply more on social engineering tactics than ever before. Human behavior still remains the weakest link, even in 2023.

Recovery Trends

• IC3 operates a Recovery Asset Team (RAT) that links law enforcement and financial institutions to assist in freezing funds transferred under fraudulent conditions based on statistical and investigative analysis.

• RAT was able to recover some of the stolen funds from incidents reported. It resulted in reversal of a $50 million payment made to BEC actors by a New York-based organization, a $426,000 BEC loss in Connecticut & freezing of nearly $45 million linked to internet crimes.
• RAT established in February 2018 has had a success rate of over 71% in the incidents it handled, freezing $538.4 million in stolen funds.

Geographic Breakdown

• California led all states in both complaints (77,271) and losses ($2,159,454,513)
• Texas (47,305 complaints, $1,021,547,286 in losses)
• Florida (41,061 complaints, $874,725,493 in losses).
• New York (26,948 complaints, $749,955,480 in losses)
• Outside of USA - 288,355 complaints from the United Kingdom, 1,779 from Nigeria, 6,061 from Canada, 1,614 from France, and 3,405 from India.

Special Mention - Indian Law Enforcement & FBI IC3

Both of them work in fantastic partnership

• Tech/Customer Support and Government Impersonation, are responsible for over $1.3 billion in losses. Call centers overwhelmingly target older adults, with devastating effects. Almost half the complainants report to be Over 60 (40%), and experience 58% of the losses (over $770 million).
• FBI Knoxville - Indian conspirators duped thousands of victims into believing their computers were infected with malicious malware. Resulted in finding of 14,000 victims with over $4 million in losses. An Indian individual was sentenced to 75 months in prison by Knoxville federal court for orchestrating a fraudulent computer technical support ring based in India. Non-Indian person Marilyn Sterk & her family members in USA were sentenced to 30 months in prison for supporting the fraud by opening 30 bank accounts to launder money obtained from victims of an India-based tech support scam.

FBI works with Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in New Delhi and local Indian states police. In 2023, Indian law enforcement accomplished multiple call center raids, disruptions, seizures, and arrests of the individuals alleged to be involved in perpetrating these crimes. The FBI enabled 26 arrests through 13 joint operations with Indian authorities.

An appeal from IC3

IC3 urges increased public reporting as the best defense against the rising tide of cyberthreats. If you or your business have been victimized by an internet-facilitated crime and are seeking to recover misappropriated funds, every moment is critical.

IMMEDIATELY notify all financial institutions involved in the relevant transactions, file a complaint at www.ic3.gov, contact your nearest FBI field office, and contact local law enforcement. (For India refer to https://cybercrime.gov.in/ managed by Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt. of India)

Download Full Report - https://www.ic3.gov/Media/PDF/AnnualReport/2023_IC3Report.pdf

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