This is the highest growth in online crime since IC3 began gathering data in 2005. During the period under review, the average cost per incident reached USD 575. The IC3 website received 336,655 complaint submissions. This was a 22.3 percent increase as compared to 2008 when 275,284 complaints were received. Of the top five categories of reported offence non-delivered merchandise and/or payment ranked highest with 19.9 percent, followed by identity theft (14.1 percent), credit card fraud (10.4 percent), auction fraud (10.3 percent) and computer fraud (7.9 percent).
As for complaints involving financial harm that were referred to law enforcement, the highest USD losses were registered among investment fraud (USD 3,200), overpayment fraud (USD 2,500) and advance fee fraud (USD 1,500) complainants. Male complainants lost more money than female complainants (by a ratio of USD 1.51 lost per male to every USD 1.00 lost per female). Individuals aged between 40 and 49 reported higher losses, as compared to other age groups.
IC3 2009 Internet Crime Report is the ninth annual compilation of information on complaints received by IC3 and referred to law enforcement or regulatory agencies for appropriate action.
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