The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) released its 2023 Internet Crime Report (IC3) and accompanying state reports, which include information from over 880,000 complaints of suspected Internet crime with potential losses exceeding $12.5 billion nationwide.
The 2023 report shows that Alaskans filed more than 2,300 complaints to IC3, with reported losses exceeding $31 million – a nearly $15 million increase from the 2022 report. While the IC3’s accompanying state report indicates internet crimes impacted all age groups in Alaska, Alaska’s senior population accounted for the highest reported losses.
Alaskans reported a variety of internet crimes; however, the costliest schemes were reported as business email compromise ($12.2 million), investment fraud ($6.6 million), and confidence/romance fraud ($2.8 million). These crimes are described as:
- Business Email Compromise (BEC): BEC is a scam targeting businesses or individuals working with suppliers and/or businesses regularly performing wire transfer payments. Fraudsters carry out these sophisticated scams by compromising email accounts and other forms of communication, such as phone numbers and virtual meeting applications. They use social engineering or computer intrusion techniques to conduct unauthorized funds transfers.
- Investment Fraud: Deceptive practice that induces investors to make purchases based on false information. These scams usually offer the victims large returns with minimal risk. (Retirement, 401K, Ponzi, Pyramid, etc.)
- Confidence/Romance Fraud: Most often, through social media or dating sites, a victim believes they are in a relationship (family, friendly, or romantic) and are tricked into sending money, personal and financial information, or items of value to the perpetrator or to launder money.
The report contains information about the most prevalent internet crimes affecting the public and offers guidance for prevention and protection.
The FBI encourages victims to report suspected internet crimes to the IC3 at www.ic3.gov, the Nation’s central hub for reporting cybercrime. The mission of the IC3 is to provide the public with a reliable and convenient reporting mechanism to report suspected internet crime to the FBI and to develop effective alliances with law enforcement and industry partners to help those who report. Information is processed for investigative and intelligence purposes for law enforcement and public awareness.
