Hawaii residents and businesses reported $51.7 million in cybercrime losses in 2023, a 45% increase from the $35.8 million reported in 2022. The number of complaints reported in Hawaii also increased from 1,703 in 2022 to 1,954 last year, a 15% increase.
Internet crime losses and complaints in Hawaii are growing faster than the national average, according to the FBI’s annual Internet Crime Report released earlier this month. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center said it received more than 880,000 complaints last year, with potential losses nationwide exceeding $12.5 billion. Compared with 2022, the number of complaints will increase by approximately 10% and the amount of losses will increase by 22%.
“Because many people and businesses fail to report crimes to authorities, the actual amount of fraud losses caused by Internet crime is likely to be much higher,” said Keal´i Lopez, AARP Hawaii State Director. “That’s why AARP Hawaii is trying to educate kupuna and their loved ones about fraud prevention through the AARP Fraud Watch Network (aarp.org/fraudwatch).”
The three most common types of crimes reported by victims are phishing/spoofing, personal data breaches, and non-payment/non-delivery. A new report from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) says the top three types of crimes reported by victims of fraud losses are investment scams, business email compromises (BEC) and tech support scams. In 2023, more than 298,000 complaints were received about phishing and deception schemes. More than 55,000 complaints were received for personal data breaches and 50,000 complaints for non-payment/non-delivery scams.
AARP Free Workshop in Maui, Hawaii
Former elder abuse prosecutor and AARP fraud spokesman Paul Greenwood will host a Working Together to Combat Fraud seminar on April 26 at 9:30 a.m. at the Kaunoa Senior Services Center in Paia. This seminar will explore some of the major frauds in Hawaii and strategies for detecting and avoiding fraud and financial exploitation.
To register for the free workshop, visit events.aarp.org/hifraud24 or visit aarp.org/local or the AARP Hawaii Facebook page to see all events AARP has to offer.
AARP will also host an educational webinar on April 5 at 10:30 a.m. hosted by Amy Nofziger, Director of Cyber Victim Support for AARP Fraud Watch.
“At the Fraud Watch Network, we are seeing an increase in cryptocurrency scams and online commerce scams targeting sellers and victims,” Nofziger said. “Our Anatomy of a Scam webinar will provide an in-depth look at internet and social media market scams.”
Nationally, investment fraud is the largest source of financial losses and will increase to $4.57 billion in 2023, a 38% increase from 2022. Cryptocurrency investment fraud losses will increase to $3.94 billion in 2023, a 53% increase from 2022. Business email complaints accounted for a reported loss of $2.9 billion, with technical support fraud the third largest loss, with more than $924 million reported stolen.
Victims aged 30 to 49 are the most likely to report losses from investment fraud, while victims over 60 account for more than half of losses from tech support scams.
Ransomware continues to be disruptive and impactful in 2023. IC3 received more than 2,800 ransomware complaints, and losses rose to $59.6 million, a 74% increase from last year. The critical infrastructure reported to be most affected by ransomware is healthcare and public health, critical manufacturing, and government facilities.
The FBI said in a news release that the Internet Crime Complaint Center provides the public with a direct way to report cyber threats, complex financial crimes and other online threats. The FBI encourages victims to report suspected Internet crimes at ic3.gov.
The Internet Crime Complaint Center was established in May 2000 to accept Internet crime complaints. Since its inception, IC3 has received more than 8 million complaints.
The FBI recommends that the public frequently review consumer and industry alerts issued by the Internet Crime Complaint Center.