New Hampshire residents reported more than $15 million in losses from internet-based crimes in 2021, a record year in the U.S. for internet crime as reported to the FBI.
The Granite State ranks 45th for number of victims out of the 50 states and seven territories tracked by the FBI, and 42nd for amount of money lost.
Overall, Americans reported losses of more than $6.9 billion in 2021, up 7 percent from 2020, with 847,376 reports made to the FBI’s Internet Crime Center (IC3), which released its annual report Tuesday.
“In 2021, America experienced an unprecedented increase in cyber attacks and malicious cyber activity,” Paul Abbate, FBI deputy director, said in the report’s introduction. “These cyber attacks compromised businesses in an extensive array of business sectors as well as the American public.”
The top three cyber crimes reported to IC3 in 2021 were phishing scams, non-payment/non-delivery scams and personal data breaches. The biggest money losses were from scams involving compromised email, both for businesses and individuals, investment fraud, and romance and confidence fraud.
In New Hampshire, 1,487 victims reported cyber crimes to IC3, with a total $15,302,618 lost. While the largest age group of victims was over 60, with 400 complaints and $2,618,627 lost, the greatest average amount lost was to the 40-49 age group, where 207 complaints reported being scammed out of $3,701,398.
The report lists 30 crime categories, ranging from old standards like extortion to 21st-century crimes like phishing/vishing/smishing/pharming (see definitions below). In an illustration of how not all cyber crime is reflected in the report, some categories showed no complaints from New Hampshire, including crimes against children (anything related to the exploitation of children via the internet or technology).
While the statistics aren’t a full account of all internet-related crime, IC3 says the numbers are valuable in following cyber crime trends. Some crime incidents fall into more than one category, so the actual amount of complaints isn’t necessarily the number of crimes committed.
Crime and costs
The reported crime that cost U.S. businesses and individuals the most — and was also the most costly New Hampshire crime — was business email compromise/email account compromise, categorized by the FBI as BEC/EAC. Business email compromise targets businesses working with foreign suppliers or those that regularly use wire transfer payment. Email account compromise is a similar scam, but targets individuals.Â
“These sophisticated scams are carried out by fraudsters compromising email accounts through social engineering or computer intrusion techniques to conduct unauthorized transfer of funds,” the IC3 report says.
Across the U.S., 19,954 victims reported $2,395,953,296 in losses from BEC/EAC. In New Hampshire, 83 complaints were made, with $5,267,071 in losses.Â
The most-reported internet crime by New Hampshire victims, however, was nonpayment/non-delivery — goods or services are shipped, and payment is never rendered (nonpayment) or payment is sent, and goods or services are never received, or are of lesser quality (non-delivery). There were 325 victim complaints, totaling $551,255 in losses.
The public’s role
Abbate said public complaints to the IC3 is critical to combatting internet crime.
“[It enables] us to fill in the missing pieces with this valuable information during the investigatory process,” he said. “Not only does this reporting help to prevent additional crimes, it allows us to develop key insights on the ever-evolving trends and threats.”
Local law enforcement steers people who report an internet-based crime to the IC3 complaint portal. Many of the complaints involve multiple crime categories, and IC3 analysts determine how best to categorize them.
IC3 analyzes and investigates the complaints, tracking trends and threats from cyber criminals and sharing findings with the FBI as a whole and law enforcement agencies.
IC3 also looks to help victims before they lose their money. In 2018, it established the Recovery Asset Team, which works with financial institutions and FBI field offices to freeze funds when a crime is reported, limiting assets to the perpetrators. Last year, the Financial Fraud Kill Chain was initiated, which further looks to put a hold on money that may be part of a fraud. In 2021, the FFKC froze nearly $329 million of a potential $443,448,237 losses from 1,726 transactions related to U.S. email.Â
Abbate said the reporting system has a bigger picture, too. “As the cyber threat evolves and becomes increasingly intertwined with traditional foreign intelligence threats and emerging technologies, the FBI continues to leverage our unique authorities and partnerships to impose risks and consequences on our nation’s cyber adversaries.”
New Hampshire by the numbers
The top five reported New Hampshire internet-based crimes in 2021, by number of complaints, with amount lost:
- Nonpayment/non-delivery: 325, $551,255 (Goods or services are shipped, with payment never rendered; payment is sent, but goods or services are never received, or are poor quality)
- Extortion: 158, $149,749 (Unlawful extraction of money or property through intimidation or undue exercise of authority; may include threats of physical harm, criminal prosecution, or public exposure)
- Personal data breach: 137, $292,221 (Personal data leaked or spilled from a secure location to an untrusted environment, or sensitive, protected, or confidential data is copied, transmitted, viewed, stolen, or used by an unauthorized individual).
- Tech support: 117, $568,394 (Scammer poses as technical support or customer service).
- Identity theft: 105, $563,326 (Stolen personal identifying information [name, Social Security number, etc.] is used to commit fraud or other crimes, or fraudster takes over an account and uses it to perpetrate fraud.)
The top five reported New Hampshire crimes by money lost, with number of complaints:
- BEC/EAC: $5,267,071, 83 (Businesses working with foreign suppliers or regularly performing wire transfer payments are scammed, or individuals are scammed by email)
- Investment fraud: $4,074,459, 53 (Induces individuals or businesses to “invest” based on false information, usually offering large returns with minimal risk and can include fake retirement accounts, Ponzi schemes, etc.).
- Real estate/rental: $2,576,201, 41 (real estate investment or fraud involving rental or timeshare property).
- Advanced fee: $2,532,000, 45 (An individual pays money to someone in anticipation of receiving something of greater value in return, but instead receives significantly less than expected or nothing.)
- Confidence fraud/romance: $1,014,970, 71 (An individual believes they are in a relationship [family, friendly, romantic] and is tricked into sending money, personal and financial information, or items of value.)
New Hampshire cyber crime by top age group complaints and losses:
- The top age group by complaint is 60 and over, with 400 complaints totaling $2,618,627 in losses.
- The top losses were in the 40-49 age group, with 207 complaints and $3,701,398 in losses.
The nation by the numbers
Top 10 states by complaint, with amount lost and ranking for amount lost:
- California: 67,095, $1,228,000,000 (1)
- Texas: 41,148, $606,200,000 (2)
- New York: 29,065, $560,000,000 (3)
- Illinois: 17,999, $184,900,000 (7)
- Nevada: 17,706, $83,702,410 (19)
- Ohio: 17,510, $133,666,156 (13)
- Pennsylvania: 17,262, $207,000,000 (5)
- Florida: 15,855, $528,600,000 (4)
- Washington (state): 13,903, $157,500,000 (9)
- New Jersey: 12,817, $203,500,000 (6)
Top five reported cyber crimes in the U.S., by complaint, with total amount lost and ranking by amount lost:
- Phishing/Vishing/Smishing/Pharming: 323,972, $44,213,707 (20) (Unsolicited email, text messages, and telephone calls purportedly from legitimate company requesting personal, financial, and/or login credentials.)
- Non-Payment/Non-Delivery 82,478, $337,493,071 (7)
- Personal Data Breach: 51,829, $517,021,289 (4)
- Identity Theft: 51,629, $278,267,918 (8)
- Extortion: 39,360, $60,577,741 (15)
New England by the numbers
How the New England states rank by number of complaints, with national rank; amount of losses with national rank; top crime by number of complaints, and top crime by total amount lost (ranks include 50 states and seven territories):
- Massachusetts: 9,174 (20), $150,384,982 (11); no lead value, 1,589 (incomplete complaints that don’t allow a crime to be defined); nonpayment/non-delivery, 1,353; BEC/EAC $61,713,178.
- Connecticut: 4,524 (29), $72,476,672 (22); nonpayment/non-delivery, 737; BEC/EAC $37,674,067.
- New Hampshire: 1,487 (45), $15,302,618 (42); nonpayment/non-delivery, 325; BEC/EAC $5,267.079.
- Maine: 1,402 (46), $7,261,234 (52); nonpayment/non-delivery, 299; BEC/EAC $2,706,111.
- Rhode Island: 1,205 (47), $11,191,079 (47); nonpayment/non-delivery, 235; confidence fraud/romance, $4,519,628.
- Vermont: 715 (51), $9,826,787 (50); nonpayment/non-delivery, 137; investment fraud $4,754,607.
