Con Watch: The FBI Releases Its Annual Report on Scams | #cybercrime | #infosec

Steve Weisman is a lawyer, college professor, author, and one of the country’s leading experts in cybersecurity, identity theft, and scams. See Steve’s other Con Watch articles.

Each year for the last 25 years, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) has issued its annual Internet Crime Report, and this year’s version contains some startling statistics:

• Total losses attributable to cybercrime reached $20.877 billion, an increase of more than $4 billion over 2024 losses
• Financial losses have gone up more than 2,000 percent since 2015
• People over the age of 60 were the most victimized by cybercrime, with investment fraud — particularly cryptocurrency investment scams, which I’ve written about previously — being the most common scam targeting seniors
• Overall, the largest category of cybercrime was investment fraud, which accounted for almost 49 percent of the total cybercrime monetary losses, with cryptocurrency investment scams representing 72 percent of all investment scam complaints

The report also highlights the increasing threat of tech support scams, which accounted for the third highest losses behind Investment scams and the Business Email Compromise, an imposter scam that exclusively targets businesses. Like many scams, tech support scams prey primarily on older victims.

Tech Support Scams

The most common tech support scams start with popups on your computer that provide notices of security problems. The pop-up typically contains a telephone number for you to call to fix the problem. If you call the number, the scammer will direct you to make a payment in order for your computer to be repaired.

Tech support scams are also perpetrated through phone calls. This is exactly what happened to a man in Waltham, Massachusetts who received such a phone call purportedly from Apple Customer Support telling him that his computer was infected with a virus and he needed to send $12,000 through a cryptocurrency ATM to pay for the cost of remedying the problem.

Fortunately, Dan Collins, an off-duty police officer, witnessed the elderly man talking on his phone approaching a cryptocurrency ATM carrying $12,000 in cash. The police officer identified himself and convinced the targeted victim that it was all a scam.

Whenever you get a pop-up, email, phone call, or text message that appears to tell you that you have a security problem with your computer, you should never click on any links contained in the message or call the telephone number provided.

Often when this scam starts with a pop-up on your computer, your computer screen freezes. The pop-up tells you that you have a major security problem and warns you that you should not shut down or restart your computer because, to do so would cause serious damage. The truth is that the best thing you can do if your screen freezes is shut down your computer and restart it.

If the scam starts with a phone call, know that scammers can manipulate your Caller ID to make the call appear to come from Apple or some other tech company. No legitimate tech company is going to call you to tell you there is a virus affecting your computer. If you are truly concerned about a security problem, contact tech support at the real tech company you use at a phone number or email address that you have confirmed is accurate.

Finally, anytime you are directed to make a payment through a cryptocurrency ATM, it is a scam.  No company or government agency requires payment through cryptocurrencies.

Investment Scams

Investment scams are also growing more prevalent, according to the FBI report. Convicted Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff, who stole $50 billion from unsuspecting victims, may be the last person from whom you would accept investing advice, but in fact his advice, as contained in a 2013 jailhouse interview Madoff gave to the Wall Street Journal, is helpful to people hoping to avoid the fate of Madoff’s many victims. With great “chutzpah,” Madoff blamed his victims for their losses. He said that his investors were “sophisticated people” who should have known better. “People asked me all the time, how did I do it. And I refused to tell them, and they still invested. Things have to make sense to you. You should ask good questions.”

Bernie Madoff was right: No one should ever invest in anything without totally understanding the investment and the inherent risks. If you understand cryptocurrencies and still wish to invest in them, that’s fine, but all investment decisions should be made only after being properly informed. You may want to check out the SEC’s investor education website, where you can find helpful information about a variety of investments including cryptocurrency.

For detailed information about cryptocurrency scams and how to avoid them check out this article from the FTC.

Before investing with anyone, you should investigate the person offering to sell you the investment with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Central Registration Depository. This will tell you if the advisor is licensed and if there have been disciplinary procedures against them. You can also check with your own state’s securities regulation office for similar information. Many investment advisers will not be required to register with the SEC but are required to register with your individual state’s securities regulators. You can find your state’s agency by going to the North American Securities Administrators Association. You should also check with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for information about the particular investment adviser.

One More Thing to Worry About

Scammers target people who have already been the victim of scams, posing as either investigators, government agencies, or law firms telling victims that they can recover the funds lost in the original scam. They demand an upfront fee and then disappear. They often keep detailed records of their victims and sell these lists, often referred to as “sucker lists,” to others on the Dark Web, that part of the Internet where criminals sell their goods and services. They also get the names of scam victims by monitoring consumer complaint websites or social media. Some of these recovery scammers use AI to create believable websites or call centers.

Legitimate recovery entities such as the FBI or law firms do not charge upfront fees for investigating crimes or for efforts to return funds to people who have been scammed. and they never guarantee asset recovery. Governmental agencies do not charge fees at any time for asset recovery.