NCJ Number
230579
Date Published
March 2010
Length
26 pages
Annotation
This report presents the results of Internet crime complaints as reported to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) for 2009.
Abstract
Highlights of the report include: 1) email scams that used the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) name represented 16.6 percent of all complaints submitted to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). Non-delivered merchandise and/or payment accounted for 11.9 percent of complaints; 2) of the complaints involving financial harm that were referred to law enforcement, the highest median dollar losses were found among investment fraud ($3,200), overpayment fraud ($2,500), and advance fee fraud ($1,500) complainants; 3) among complainants, 54 percent were male, nearly two-thirds were between the ages of 30 and 50, and a little over one-third resided in one of the following States: California, Florida, Texas, or New York. The majority of complainants were from the United States (92 percent); and 4) in addition to FBI scams, popular scam trends for 2009 included hitman scams, astrological reading frauds, economic scams, job site scams, and fake pop-up ads for antivirus software. From January 2009 through December 2009, the IC3 Web site received 336,655 complaint submissions, which was a 22.3 percent increase compared to 2008. The IC3 2009 Internet Crime Report is the 9th annual compilation of information on complaints received by IC3 and referred to law enforcement or regulatory agencies for appropriate action. Tables, maps, figures, and appendixes 1-3