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Audio Transcript

Mollie Halpern: The FBI’s latest Internet Crime Report provides details about the top trending Internet scams and associated financial losses.

The 2016 report shows the business e-mail compromise scam is the crime with the highest in reported losses, costing victims more than $360 million.

Other major trending scams include ransomware, tech support fraud, and extortion.

The information is collected and analyzed through the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, or IC3, which receives public complaints of suspected Internet-facilitated crime.

The IC3 received about 300,000 complaints totaling more than $1.3 billion in losses in 2016.

Unit Chief Donna Gregory says a study shows only about 15 percent of the nation’s Internet fraud victims report the crimes to law enforcement.

Donna Gregory: The dollar losses are very high, and knowing that that’s only 15 percent or less of what is actually reported, those numbers are just staggering.

Halpern: Gregory goes on to emphasize the need for more public reporting.

Gregory: It’s important for victims to file complaints with the IC3 so we can get a better picture of Internet crime nationwide.

Halpern: To report Internet crime, take steps to mitigate additional losses, and learn how to protect yourself, visit www.ic3.gov. I’m Mollie Halpern of the Bureau with FBI, This Week.