NCJ Number
226481
Date Published
2009
Length
28 pages
Annotation
This 2008 Internet Crime Report of the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), which began operating on May 8, 2000, reports on complaints received and referred by IC3 to law enforcement or regulatory agencies for appropriate action.
Abstract
From January 1, 2008, through December 31, 2008, the IC3 Web site received 275,284 complaints, a 33.1-percent increase from 2007. These complaints were mostly related to fraud, such as auction fraud, nondelivery of ordered items, and credit/debit card fraud. Other types of complaints involved computer intrusions, spam/unsolicited e-mail, and child pornography. Of these complaints IC3 referred 72,940 to Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies around the country for further consideration. The complaints referred generally involved a financial loss to the complainant. The total dollar loss from all referred cases of fraud was $264.6 million, with a median dollar loss of $931.00 per complaint. E-mail (74 percent) and Web pages (28.9 percent) were the two primary mechanisms by which fraudulent contacts occurred. Among known perpetrators, 77.4 percent were male, and half were located in one of the following States: California, New York, Florida, Texas, the District of Columbia, and Washington State. A significant number of perpetrators were located outside the United States, notably, in the United Kingdom, Nigeria, Canada, China, and South Africa. Of complainants, 55.4 percent were male, nearly half were between the ages of 30 and 50, and one-third lived in one of the four most populated States. 7 charts, 9 tables, 4 maps, 8 references, and appended explanation of complaint categories, best practices to prevent Internet fraud, and complainant/perpetrator statistics by State