Scammers stole $187,621,731 from 11,475 Colorado victims in 2023, according to the latest report from the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). This put Colorado at 7th in the nation for complaints per capita. Reported losses increased nearly $9 million over the 2022 dollar amount.  
 
The top three schemes with the largest dollar amount losses in 2023 in Colorado were investment fraud ($60 million); business email compromise ($57 million); and tech support ($23 million).  
 
The report highlights critical vulnerabilities and underscores the imperative for heightened security awareness in the Centennial State. 
 
FBI Denver remains committed to working closely with local law enforcement agencies and community partners to mitigate risks and protect Coloradans against scams. 
 
“Sadly, we routinely see victims from all walks of life whose livelihoods and life savings have been wiped out by scammers,” said FBI Denver Special Agent in Charge Mark Michalek. “Criminals continue to develop new tricks to defraud people, so think twice before clicking on a link and report suspicious activity to law enforcement.” 
 
In 2023, the IC3 received more than 880,000 complaints with potential losses exceeding a staggering $12.5 billion. This is nearly a 10% increase in complaints from 2022 and a 22% increase in losses, underscoring the severity of the scams being perpetrated. 
 
Nationwide, the top three scams most frequently reported by victims were phishing/spoofing, personal data breach, and non-payment/non-delivery. The recently published 2023 IC3 report shows that nationally, victims 30 to 49 years old were the most likely group to report losses from investment fraud, while those older than 60 accounted for more than half of losses to tech support scams. Those seniors were the most victimized, with more than  100,000 complaints made to the IC3 and reported losses more than of $3 billion. 
 
Across the country, ransomware increased more than any other scheme in 2023. The IC3 received more than 2,800 ransomware complaints with adjusted losses of more than $59.6 million, a 74 perfect increase from the previous year. The most impacted critical infrastructure sectors were health care and public health, critical manufacturing, and government facilities. 
 
If you feel you have been a victim of a cyber-enabled crime, file a complaint at IC3.gov.  
 
Read the full IC3 2023 report here: https://www.ic3.gov/Media/PDF/AnnualReport/2023_IC3Report.pdf 
 
Breakdowns by state are here: https://www.ic3.gov/Media/PDF/AnnualReport/2023State/StateReport.aspx