IC3.gov: BEC Compromises and Romance Fraud 2018

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.)