$240 million lost in Internet Scams

The FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center recently released a report entitled 2007 IC3 Annual Report that $240 million dollars were lost by United States citizens in 2007. IC3 is Internet Crime Complaint Center.

The most common crime was auction fraud. Second was non-delivery of purchased goods or services. Approximately 1/3 of the crimes reported resulted in losses of between $1000 and $5000.

This statement was particularly disturbing to me. "The report also shows the amounts lost increased with age. Victims in their 20s lost $385 on average, while people over 60 reported they lost an average $760 per scam."

We often associate Internet safety issues only with children and youth, but this demonstrates a need to educate adults and older adults on Internet safety issues also.