The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (ic3.gov) has released its 2021 Internet Crime Report.
The number of complaints increased by 7% to 847,376 from 2020 to 2021, but reported losses increased by 64% year-over-year to $6.9 billion!
For several years, the No. 1 type of cybercrime has been business email compromise, followed by No. 2, romance scams. But this year we have changed! Criminals have discovered how many people don’t understand investing in cryptocurrencies and have turned investment scams into a new money mill.
Number 1 is still business email compromise, but with only a 3% increase in victims, reported financial losses increased by 28%. This represents an average loss of $120,000 per victim, compared to $96,700 per victim last year.
#2 Displaces Romance Scams from Investment Scams for the First Time with a Dramatic Increase! Investment scams increased from 8,788 complaints to 20,561 complaints, while losses increased by 333%, from $33.6 million to $1.45 billion! This represents an average loss of $70,810 per victim, compared to $38,287 per victim last year!
The No. 3 romance scam was quite similar to 2020 in terms of number of complaints, but the amount of losses still increased by 59%. In 2020, the average victim lost $25,272, but in 2021, the average victim lost $39,344. And these victims are generally elderly people!
| Type of crime | Losses 2021 | 2020 losses | Loss Change | Casualties of 2021 | Casualties of 2020 | Change of victims |
| BEC/EAC | $2,395,953,296 | $1,866,642,107 | 28% | 19954 | 19369 | 3% |
| Investment | $1,455,943,193 | $336,469,000 | 333% | 20561 | 8788 | 134% |
| Trust Fraud/Romance | $956,039,739 | $600,249,821 | 59% | 24299 | 23751 | 2% |
| Personal data breach | $517,021,289 | $194,473,055 | 165% | 51829 | 45330 | 14% |
| Real Estate/Rental | $350,328,166 | $213,196,082 | 64% | 11578 | 13638 | -15% |
| Technical support | $347,657,432 | $146,477,709 | 137% | 23903 | 15421 | 55% |
| Non-payment/non-delivery | $337,493,071 | $265,011,249 | 27% | 82478 | 108869 | -24% |
| Identity theft | $278,267,918 | $219,484,699 | 27% | 51629 | 43330 | 19% |
| Credit card fraud | $172,998,385 | $129,820,792 | 33% | 16750 | 17614 | -5% |
| Corporate data breach | $151,568,225 | $128,916,648 | 18% | 1287 | 2794 | -54% |
| Government impersonation | $142,643,253 | $109,938,030 | 30% | 11335 | 12827 | -12% |
| Advanced Fees | $98,694,137 | $83,215,405 | 19% | 11034 | 13020 | -15% |
| Civil matter | $85,049,939 | $24,915,958 | 241% | 1118 | 968 | 15% |
| Usurpation | $82,169,806 | $216,513,728 | -62% | 18522 | 28218 | -34% |
| Other | $75,837,524 | $101,523,082 | -25% | 12346 | 10372 | 19% |
| Lottery/Contest/Legacy | $71,289,089 | $61,111,319 | 17% | 5991 | 8501 | -30% |
| Extortion | $60,577,741 | $70,935,939 | -15% | 39360 | 76741 | -49% |
| Ransomware | $49,207,908 | $29,157,405 | 69% | 3729 | 2474 | 51% |
| Job | $47,231,023 | $62,314,015 | -24% | 15253 | 16879 | -ten% |
| Phishing/Vishing/Smishing/Pharming | $44,213,707 | $54,241,075 | -18% | 323972 | 241342 | 34% |
| Too much paid | $33,407,671 | $51,039,922 | -35% | 6108 | 10988 | -44% |
| IPR/copyright and counterfeiting | $16,365,011 | $5,910,617 | 177% | 4270 | 4213 | 1% |
| Health care related | $7,042,942 | $2,904,2515 | -76% | 578 | 1383 | -58% |
| Malware/scareware/viruses | $5,596,889 | $6,904,054 | -19% | 810 | 1423 | -43% |
| Terrorism/Threats of violence | $4,390,720 | $654,7449 | -33% | 12346 | 20669 | -40% |
| Gambling | $1,940,237 | $3,961,508 | -51% | 395 | 391 | 1% |
| Reshipment | $631,466 | $3,095,265 | -80% | 516 | 883 | -42% |
| Denial of Service/TDoS | $217,981 | $512,127 | -57% | 1104 | 2018 | -45% |
| Crimes against children | $198,950 | $660,044 | -70% | 2167 | 3202 | -32% |
Examples of investment scams
What does an investment scam look like? The most common these days promise a guaranteed investment rate. Thousands of investment fraud sites have been created and most of them are distributed on social networks. People who claim to be successful on the sites are often only trying to earn a commission by referring others to the site.
It only took a few hours to find over 500 live investment scam sites last month. Many of these sites are still active today.
Many sites are unlikely to attract real investors due to the ridiculousness of their pricing. No one believes they can make 50% an hour… however this site promises that if you can get your associates to invest, you’ll get 5% of whatever they deposit. It’s quite common.
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| Crypto-Trades(.)United Kingdom |
A more credible site promises a much lower rate, like 3% per day for investments up to $4,999. If the site owners believe they have a big fish, they can actually PAY the 3% for a small investment, using this as proof that the system is working in a way to attract a larger investment. This site, and many others like it, then offer 6% daily profits for investments of at least $5,000, or 9% daily profits for investments of at least $30,000.
The site pictured above claims to be “Crypto-Trades(.)uk” and offers proof of its legitimacy by providing a link to its “Registration Certificate”.
Crypto-Trades point United Kingdom
claiming to be the British company “Crypto Ltd”, which is a real company, but not them.
They are regularly mistreated in this way. CryptSparkFX(.)com, Crypto-binary(.)com, CryptoTrust(.)ltd, CryptoAlphas(.)uk, CryptoHive(.)uk, Webull-Investments(.)com, ExploreFX(.)uk, Crypto-Gain( .)ltd, Slushpool-investment(.)com, Intrex-invest(.)com and FedelityFunds-Crypto(.)com are some of the other investment scam sites that use their address, hoping to gain credibility from it.
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| Intrex-Invest(.)with |
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| FedelityFunds-Crypto(.)with |
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| Slushpool-investment(.)with |
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| CryptoHive(.)uk |
A true victim’s story
A successful businessman from my area came to me for help. He had initially joined a group like those above called CryptoHood(.)io which later became CryptoHood(.)co. He invested a small five-figure amount on their site and got scammed, losing everything. While he was complaining about being scammed, a member of a Facebook investment group let him know that they too had been scammed by these people. But good news! He had found a legitimate business that was really profitable! EasonFXPro(.)with! As he had already been burned, he invested this time to a lesser extent. $2,500. A sum that this CEO “could afford to lose”.
To be able to collect, all he had to do was pay them a “Sigma Fee” of 10%. He refused ($25,000!?!?!?!)
They then offered to let him withdraw just $50,000, for a Sigma fee of just $5,000.
He was harassed on the phone for a time by “Elizabeth Frances” and “Evelyn” and “Mark Gerrard” and “Steven Williams”, but chose to file an IC3.gov report about his experiences and walk away from Crypto Investments for a while.
The lure of easy money
With 1100 likes, it must be real, right?
And they provide screenshots as proof that they are actually paid! So it’s guaranteed, right?