NCJ Number
200481
Date Published
2003
Length
23 pages
Annotation
This document describes the incidence of crime reported to the Internet Fraud Complaint Center (IFCC) in 2002.
Abstract
The IFCC Web site received 75,063 complaints from January 1, 2002, to December 31, 2002. This total included many different fraudulent and non-fraudulent complaints, such as auction fraud, credit/debit card fraud, computer intrusions, unsolicited e-mail (SPAM), and child pornography. The IFCC has referred 48,252 complaints of fraud, a three-fold increase from the previous year. The total loss from all referred cases of fraud was $54 million, up from $17 million in 2001. Internet auction fraud was by far the most reported offense, comprising 46 percent of referred complaints. Non-delivery of merchandise and payment accounted for 31 percent of complaints, and credit/debit card fraud made up nearly 12 percent of complaints. Cases of investment fraud, business fraud, confidence fraud, and identity theft were the top seven categories of complaints referred to law enforcement during the year. Nearly four in five of perpetrators were male and half resided in California, New York, Florida, Texas, and Illinois. Perpetrators also had a representation in Nigeria, Canada, South Africa, and Romania. Complainants were mostly male, half were between the ages of 30 and 50, and over one-third resided in California, Florida, Texas, and New York. The IFCC has also received complaints from Canada, Australia, Great Britain, Germany, and Japan. The amount lost by complainants tended to be related to a number of factors. Males tended to lose more than females. The proportion of individuals losing at least $5,000 was higher for those 60 years and older than it was for any other age category. E-mail and Web pages were the two primary mechanisms by which the fraudulent contact took place. In all, 66 percent of complainants reported they had e-mail contact with the perpetrator and 18.7 percent had contact through a Web page. Only one in four complainants had contacted a law enforcement agency about the incident prior to filing a complaint with the IFCC. These individuals had a higher median dollar loss than the total complainant population. 3 tables, appendix