Business email compromise caused $1.8 billion damage: Report

The highest number of complaints in 2020 was phishing scams, of which the IC3 received complaints numbering 241,342, representing 30 per cent of all complaints then.

Olumayowa Samuel • April 28, 2021

A hacker on a computer used to illustrate the story.

Damages caused by business email compromise (BEC) and email account compromise (EAC) schemes in 2020 are worth $ 1.8 billion.

According to recent data provided by TradingPlatforms.com, the amount represents 42 per cent of all losses in cybercrimes reported.

The data further revealed, “In 2020, almost 792,000 complaints were logged by the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), nearly 70 per cent more than 2019.“

“The total financial losses caused by cybercrimes jumped by 20 per cent year-over-year to $4.2 billion, and business email compromise schemes had the most significant role in that increase.”

The record-high figures in 2020 were made possible following the rapid adoption of technology to curtail the spread of COVID-19, which has created a huge opening for cybercrimes to operate.

Furthermore, while the FBI 2020 Internet Crime Report recorded a drop in the number of BAE/EAC complaints last year, “the total amount of loss caused by these schemes jumped by $100 million in a year.”

The report further disclosed, “In 2019, the IC3 received 23,775 BEC/EAC complaints with adjusted losses of over $1.7 billion. Last year, the number of complaints dropped to 19,369, while the total loss jumped to $1.8 billion.”

There was a record number of 791,790 complaints received by the IC3 in 2020, with a $4.1 billion loss representing almost 70 per cent in 2019.

Other crimes committed via the web include romance frauds which ranks second with total losses of over $600 million; “investment frauds, non-payment/non-delivery frauds, identity theft and spooning followed with $336.5 million, $ 265 million, $ 219.5 million, and $ 219.5 million respectively.”

The highest number of complaints in 2020 was phishing scams, of which the IC3 received complaints numbering 241,342, representing 30 per cent of all complaints then.

Ranking second in number of complaints in 2020 was non-payment/non-delivery frauds with 108,869, followed by extortion with 76,741, personal data breach with 45,330, and identity theft with 43,330 complaints.

We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.