The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released its Internet Crime Report 2024, highlighting US$16.6 billion in losses reported to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) over the past year. Fraud accounted for the majority of these losses, while ransomware remained the most pervasive threat to critical infrastructure, with complaints increasing by 9 percent compared to 2023. Among all demographics, individuals over the age of 60 experienced the highest financial losses and filed the greatest number of complaints.
These escalating losses are particularly troubling given the FBI’s intensified efforts in 2024 to disrupt cybercriminal operations and increase the cost of malicious activity. Notably, a significant blow was delivered to LockBit, one of the most active ransomware groups globally. Since 2022, the FBI has distributed thousands of decryption keys to ransomware victims, helping to prevent an estimated $800 million in ransom payments.
“Also in 2024, we worked proactively to prevent losses and minimize victim harm through private sector collaboration and initiatives like Operation Level Up,” B. Chad Yarbrough, operations director for criminal and cyber at the FBI, wrote in the Internet Crime Report 2024. “We disbanded fraud and laundering syndicates, shut down scam call centers, shuttered illicit marketplaces, dissolved nefarious ‘botnets,’ and put hundreds of other actors behind bars. Our partnerships across the intelligence, law enforcement, and private sector communities have never been stronger.”
Noting that a cyber or cybersecurity threat is a malicious act that seeks to damage data, steal data, or disrupt digital life in general, the Internet Crime Report 2024 detailed that cyber threats include ransomware, viruses, and malware, data breaches, Denial of Service (DoS) attacks, and other attack vectors. IC3 received more than 4,800 complaints from organizations belonging to a critical infrastructure sector that were affected by a cyber threat. The most reported cyber threats among critical infrastructure organizations were ransomware and data breaches.
The report revealed that cyber threats remained a significant concern throughout the year. A total of 263,455 cybercrime complaints were filed, resulting in reported losses exceeding $1.571 billion. Critical infrastructure sectors were particularly impacted, with 4,878 complaints received related to attacks targeting these essential services. It also identified the top five ransomware variants based on the number of complaints submitted to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). These included Akira, LockBit, RansomHub, FOG, and PLAY.
IC3 recognized 67 new ransomware variants in 2024. The most reported of these new variants were – FOG, Lynx, Cicada 3301, Dragonforce, and Frag. The center provides this information to FBI Field Offices to help identify new ransomware variants, discover the enterprises the threat actors are targeting, and determine whether critical infrastructure is being targeted.
Cyber-enabled fraud includes complaints where criminals use the Internet or other technology to commit fraudulent activities, often involving the theft of money, data, or identity, or the creation of counterfeit goods or services. Cyber-enabled fraud is responsible for almost 83 percent of all losses reported to IC3 in 2024.
Internet Crime Report 2024 disclosed that in 2024, cyber-enabled fraud continued to dominate the threat landscape, with a total of 333,981 complaints reported. These incidents resulted in an estimated $13.7 billion in losses. Cyber-enabled fraud accounted for 38 percent of all complaints received in 2024 and was responsible for a staggering 83 percent of the total financial losses reported.
Established in 2018, the IC3 Recovery Asset Team streamlines communications with financial institutions and FBI field offices to assist in the freezing of funds for victims of fraudulent domestic and international transactions via the Financial Fraud Kill Chain. Most Financial Fraud Kill Chain incidents initiated by the IC3 RAT are business email compromise (BEC).
The Financial Fraud Kill Chain can also be initiated for Tech Support Fraud, Romance Scams, and Data Breaches. The Recovery Asset Team assumed responsibility for domestic-to-international transactions in April 2024.
The International Financial Fraud Kill Chain is a partnership between federal law enforcement and financial entities whose purpose is to freeze fraudulent funds wired by victims. International requests are coordinated through the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network Rapid Response Team and law enforcement entities, including FBI LEGAT offices and international law enforcement partners.
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