Small-time cybercrime is about to explode — We aren’t ready
Summary: Cisco Talos reports that the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center received 847,376 complaints in 2021, with each victim losing a little more than $8,000 on average, and complaints jumped more than 60% between 2019 and 2020. The article attributes the rise to criminals shifting from drug crime to cybercrime, aided by cryptocurrencies and the low barrier of entry that lets anyone with a smartphone and desire get started.
Why it matters: Most of this crime is small enough to fall below the threshold that draws FBI attention, so the burden lands on local law enforcement that is trained for drug and violent crime, not forensic data work - and a criminal can cash out a $500 gift card from a stolen credit card far more easily than laundering $10,000 in stolen Bitcoin.
Read the original at Cisco Talos ↗
- Topics
- Cybercrime & Law Enforcement
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