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IC3.gov: BEC Compromises and Romance Fraud 2018

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IC3.gov: BEC Compromises and Romance Fraud 2018

Unread postby SlapHappy » Tue Apr 30, 2019 4:14 pm

https://securityboulevard.com/2019/04/i ... raud-2018/

IC3.gov: BEC Compromises and Romance Fraud 2018
by Gary Warner, UAB on April 30, 2019


The Internet Crime & Complaint Center, IC3.gov, publishes annual statistics about the crimes which have been reported to them during the previous calendar year. The full report offers insights and analysis into current trends in cybercrime. While it is widely acknowledged that cybercrime is dramatically under-reported, there are still some shocking trends when looked at on a state-by-state breakdown.

https://www.ic3.gov/media/annualreports.aspx
While the IC3 has been collecting Internet Crime complaints since 2000, starting in 2016, the IC3 provided a more detailed state-by-state breakdown than ever before, allowing us to see how many victims experienced how much loss by crime type reported. What is abundantly clear in the 2018 numbers is that the greatest dollar losses among the reports are coming from Business Email Compromise.

Previous reporting from IC3.gov called Business Email Compromise The $12 Billion Scam (July 12, 2018), although quite a bit of that figure is “exposed dollar value” – meaning how much the criminals COULD have lost. Actually losses in the US in reports gathered by the IC3 included $1.3 Billion stolen from 21,723 domestic companies from October 2013 to May 2016, and $1.6 Billion stolen from 19,335 domestic companies from June 2016 to May 2018.

In the 2018 State by State breakdown, we find documentation of 19,140 companies losing $1.2 Billion stolen from companies in the 50 states, with millions more from DC, Puerto Rico, and other US territories. That means on the average day in 2018, criminals stole $3.3 Million dollars from 52 US businesses per day.

State BEC Losses BEC Victims Average Loss Per Victim Victims per 100,000 Population BEC Losses per 100,000
Alabama $7,542,651 190 $39,698 3.89 $154,314
Alaska $777,539 66 $11,781 8.92 $105,102
Arizona $19,364,749 401 $48,291 5.72 $276,008
Arkansas $3,187,563 93 $34,275 3.09 $105,765
California $190,033,205 3032 $62,676 7.67 $480,610
Colorado $16,742,410 453 $36,959 8.08 $298,598
Connecticut $23,879,979 263 $90,798 7.33 $665,551
Delaware $831,598 43 $19,339 4.45 $85,983
Florida $82,979,768 1433 $57,906 6.73 $389,589
Georgia $38,310,258 446 $85,897 4.44 $381,462
Hawaii $3,119,426 78 $39,993 5.49 $219,602
Idaho $3,001,040 85 $35,306 4.85 $171,077
Illinois $50,139,264 745 $67,301 5.82 $391,713
Indiana $19,845,399 265 $74,888 3.96 $296,559
Iowa $9,491,169 126 $75,327 4.01 $301,690
Kansas $11,152,097 142 $78,536 4.88 $383,035
Kentucky $3,399,040 152 $22,362 3.41 $76,314
Louisiana $6,785,753 25 $271,430 0.54 $145,618
Maine $767,597 53 $14,483 3.97 $57,455
Maryland $29,185,800 414 $70,497 6.84 $482,250
Massachusetts $46,339,422 595 $77,881 8.67 $675,502
Michigan $27,174,665 451 $60,254 4.53 $272,783
Minnesota $26,090,980 312 $83,625 5.59 $467,832
Mississippi $2,618,163 57 $45,933 1.91 $87,666
Missouri $13,191,920 229 $57,607 3.75 $215,766
Montana $1,793,389 38 $47,194 3.58 $168,821
Nebraska $5,419,133 83 $65,291 4.3 $280,891
Nevada $6,110,393 217 $28,158 7.24 $203,816
New Hampshire $2,783,487 86 $32,366 6.4 $207,259
New Jersey $54,132,347 554 $97,712 6.22 $607,647
New Mexico $3,158,731 101 $31,275 4.84 $151,280
New York $124,028,639 1288 $96,296 6.59 $634,671
North Carolina $29,829,247 436 $68,416 4.25 $290,450
North Dakota $427,379 31 $13,786 4.08 $56,228
Ohio $70,274,973 539 $130,380 4.62 $602,701
Oklahoma $5,425,276 147 $36,907 3.74 $138,013
Oregon $14,585,319 272 $53,622 6.57 $352,047
Pennsylvania $30,638,648 715 $42,851 5.58 $239,232
Rhode Island $3,543,031 115 $30,809 10.85 $334,248
South Carolina $8,077,180 201 $40,185 4 $160,772
South Dakota $836,734 28 $29,883 3.17 $94,843
Tennessee $16,072,195 297 $54,115 4.42 $239,312
Texas $117,017,147 2094 $55,882 7.4 $413,488
Utah $7,931,467 201 $39,460 6.48 $255,689
Vermont $687,934 43 $15,998 6.89 $110,306
Virginia $18,992,122 662 $28,689 7.82 $224,228
Washington $30,899,686 507 $60,946 6.85 $417,225
West Virginia $2,093,280 50 $41,866 2.75 $115,269
Wisconsin $10,588,528 257 $41,200 4.43 $182,718
Wyoming $1,637,116 29 $56,452 5.02 $283,367
The table above shows Business Email Compromise losses by state for calendar 2018, as based on complaints received by the team at IC3.gov. These are losses experienced by BUSINESSES. As you can see, the average loss by business varied greatly from state to state. Alaska only lost $11,000 per BEC case, while Ohio had $130,000 lost per BEC case and the average BEC case in Kentucky lost $271,000! The average loss from a BEC scam in the 50 states in calendar 2018 was $62,849 per business. ($1,202,934,836 stolen from 19,140 businesses.)

The Top Ten states for BEC by the number of victims per 100,000 population are:
Rhode Island – 10.85
Alaska – 8.92
Massachusetts – 8.67
Colorado – 8.08
Virginia – 7.82
California – 7.67
Texas – 7.4
Connecticut – 7.33
Nevada – 7.24
Vermont – 6.89

The median number of BEC victims per 100,000 by state was 4.86.
(My home state of Alabama was #41 at 3.89)

The Top Ten states for BEC by average losses per victim are:
Louisiana – $271,430
Ohio – $130,380
New Jersey – $97,711
New York – $96,295
Connecticut – $90,798
Georgia – $85,897
Minnesota – $83,624
Kansas – $78,535
Massachusetts – $77,881
Iowa – $75,326

The median state for “average loss per victim was: $47,742.80
(Alabama was #33 at $39,689 average loss per victim)

The table below documents the category of fraud that the IC3.gov team labels as “Confidence Fraud / Romance”. We know that Romance scams tend to target the lonely and the elderly in a disproportionate way, and are often enabled by social media. While the average losses per incident are lower, realize that these are often losses experienced by a senior citizen, often representing the loss of their entire life savings! The average loss from a Romance scam in the 50 states in calendar 2018 was $19,114.14. ($296,613,212 stolen from 15,518 individual victims.)

State Romance Losses Romance Victims Average Loss Per Victim Victims per 100,000 Population Romance Losses per 100,000
Alabama $1,796,307 235 $7,644 4.81 $36,750
Alaska $1,077,487 85 $12,676 11.49 $145,647
Arizona $7,975,890 429 $18,592 6.11 $113,681
Arkansas $1,332,727 135 $9,872 4.48 $44,220
California $72,355,475 2105 $34,373 5.32 $182,993
Colorado $4,782,810 376 $12,720 6.71 $85,301
Connecticut $3,956,170 143 $27,666 3.99 $110,261
Delaware $927,259 48 $19,318 4.96 $95,873
Florida $20,555,538 1191 $17,259 5.59 $96,508
Georgia $6,626,814 361 $18,357 3.59 $65,984
Hawaii $1,207,608 59 $20,468 4.15 $85,013
Idaho $1,463,397 88 $16,630 5.02 $83,422
Illinois $6,342,425 433 $14,648 3.38 $49,550
Indiana $5,390,594 273 $19,746 4.08 $80,554
Iowa $3,321,947 165 $20,133 5.24 $105,593
Kansas $2,047,571 161 $12,718 5.53 $70,327
Kentucky $1,527,974 210 $7,276 4.71 $34,306
Louisiana $2,063,999 65 $31,754 1.39 $44,292
Maine $883,372 68 $12,991 5.09 $66,121
Maryland $4,180,307 316 $13,229 5.22 $69,073
Massachusetts $8,004,624 346 $23,135 5.04 $116,685
Michigan $9,487,821 461 $20,581 4.63 $95,240
Minnesota $5,737,051 287 $19,990 5.15 $102,870
Mississippi $464,302 108 $4,299 3.62 $15,547
Missouri $5,849,242 319 $18,336 5.22 $95,670
Montana $500,415 42 $11,915 3.95 $47,107
Nebraska $1,782,497 92 $19,375 4.77 $92,392
Nevada $6,282,784 254 $24,735 8.47 $209,566
New Hampshire $1,068,704 68 $15,716 5.06 $79,576
New Jersey $8,275,788 332 $24,927 3.73 $92,897
New Mexico $2,608,857 140 $18,635 6.7 $124,945
New York $16,867,421 782 $21,570 4 $86,313
North Carolina $2,686,807 432 $6,219 4.21 $26,162
North Dakota $1,303,702 35 $37,249 4.6 $171,522
Ohio $9,085,821 424 $21,429 3.64 $77,923
Oklahoma $2,339,940 164 $14,268 4.17 $59,525
Oregon $2,713,780 266 $10,202 6.42 $65,503
Pennsylvania $10,029,245 577 $17,382 4.51 $78,310
Rhode Island $1,389,854 51 $27,252 4.81 $131,118
South Carolina $3,439,585 187 $18,394 3.72 $68,463
South Dakota $99,747 31 $3,218 3.51 $11,306
Tennessee $5,101,479 268 $19,035 3.99 $75,960
Texas $20,635,559 1238 $16,668 4.37 $72,917
Utah $2,380,004 172 $13,837 5.54 $76,725
Vermont $129,322 25 $5,173 4.01 $20,736
Virginia $9,128,873 480 $19,018 5.67 $107,779
Washington $2,062,979 493 $4,185 6.66 $27,856
West Virginia $1,367,247 74 $18,476 4.07 $75,289
Wisconsin $5,603,169 391 $14,330 6.75 $96,690
Wyoming $370,922 33 $11,240 5.71 $64,203
The Top Ten states by the number of Romance Scam victims per 100,000 population are:

Alaska – 11.49 victims per 100,000
Nevada – 8.47
Wisconsin – 6.75
Colorado – 6.71
New Mexico – 6.7
Washington – 6.66
Oregon – 6.42
Arizona – 6.11
Wyoming – 5.71
Virginia – 5.67
The median number of victims per 100,000 population was 4.79.
(Alabama was #25 with 4.81 victims per 100,000 population)
The Top Ten states by average loss per Romance Scam victim are:
North Dakota – $37,248
California – $34,373
Louisiana – $31,753
Connecticut – $27,665
Rhode Island – $27,252
New Jersey – $24,927
Nevada – $24,735
Massachusetts – $23,134
New York – $21,569
Ohio – $21,428
The median average loss per state was $17,858.
(Alabama was #44 with average Romance Scam losses of $7,634 per victim.)


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*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from CyberCrime & Doing Time authored by Gary Warner, UAB. Read the original post at: http://garwarner.blogspot.com/2019/04/i ... mance.html

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