FBI Pushes Global Crackdowns as Cybercrime Losses Soar

The FBI strongly backed expanded information sharing with foreign allies and renewed efforts to fight global cybercrime in a Wednesday report that describes a 33% surge in losses reported to its Internet Crime Complaint Center.

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The center reported a record $16.6 billion in losses due to cybercrime for 2023, driven largely by fraud and a 9% rise in ransomware targeting critical infrastructure. The 2024 IC3 report calls the surge “even more concerning” given ongoing efforts to disrupt threat actors, including actions against LockBit and Operation Level Up to detect cryptocurrency fraud in real time.

The FBI said it facilitated more than 215 arrests through 11 joint operations with Indian authorities in 2024 – a 700% jump from 2023 – the first full year of the partnership. In a media briefing ahead of the report’s release, officials credited the increase in arrests to stronger information sharing with international partners.

“Addressing these threats requires more than just one agency, or even more than one country,” said Christopher Delzotto, section chief of the FBI’s financial crimes division. “It’s through these critical partnerships with global law enforcement agencies that we’re sharing intel, coordinating operations and dismantling networks.”

The internet crime center received 859,532 complaints last year, with average losses topping $19,000 per person. Victims aged over 60 suffered the most, losing $4.8 billion, while those under 20 lost just $22.5 million.

Phishing and spoofing scams made up most cybercrime complaints, followed by extortion and personal data breaches. Investment scams led to losses of nearly $6.5 billion, with business email compromise and tech support fraud respectively accounting for $2.7 billion and $1.4 billion.

Cyber-enabled fraud – in which criminals use the internet or technology to commit fraud – accounted for nearly 83% of all losses reported to the center in 2024, totaling $13.7 billion in losses. IC3 also received more than 4,800 complaints from critical infrastructure organizations reporting impacts from cyberthreats.

Delzotto said the FBI also has “boots on the ground” in countries such as Ghana, where the bureau is working with local authorities to combat growing romance scam and other digital fraud industries. The center also reported receiving international complaints from over 200 countries throughout the year, including more than 100,000 from the United Kingdom, and thousands more from Canada, India, France, Pakistan, Mexico and others.

California, Texas and Florida logged the most complaints, followed by New York and Pennsylvania. Californians reported $2.5 billion in losses, while Texas and Florida each topped $1 billion.

The FBI’s internet crime center was first established in 2000 to collect reports on cyberthreats and digital fraud. The report said the center receives thousands of complaints daily, “many of them targeting our most vulnerable populations,” including a wide variety of digitally enabled scams.