Cybercrime Losses Hit Record $16.6 Billion in 2024, FBI Reports

Cybercriminals stole a record-breaking $16.6 billion in 2024, according to a new report from the FBI, marking a sharp 33% increase in losses compared to the previous year.

The FBI’s annual Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) report recorded 859,532 complaints in 2024—over 256,000 of which involved actual financial loss. The average loss per victim was $19,372.

One of the hardest-hit groups was Americans over the age of 60. Seniors filed more than 147,000 complaints, with total reported losses nearing $4.8 billion.

“Last year set a new record for losses reported to IC3,” said B. Chad Yarbrough, the FBI’s Operations Director for Criminal and Cyber Divisions. “Fraud accounted for most of these losses, and ransomware remained a top threat, particularly to critical infrastructure. We saw a 9% increase in ransomware-related complaints compared to 2023.”

Since IC3’s launch, the bureau has received over 9 million reports of cybercrime. In its early days, IC3 handled around 2,000 complaints per month. Today, it averages more than 2,000 per day. Over the past five years alone, IC3 has logged 4.2 million complaints totaling $50.5 billion in losses.

The FBI notes that these numbers likely reflect only a portion of the true cost of cybercrime. Many incidents go unreported, and official figures typically exclude a range of indirect costs, such as lost productivity, system repairs, and data recovery efforts.

Adding to the concern, the FBI recently warned the public that scammers are impersonating IC3 employees in a new scheme, offering fake recovery services to victims of past scams.