“US cybercrime, 2020 is a new year”

The U.S. FBI has released the 2020 edition of the annual Internet Crime Report. According to the report, 2020 is the year that hackers and cybercriminals set new records in a bad sense. It is said that the amount of damage has also reached trillions of won or more.

According to the FBI, the number of complaints received is the largest ever. The number of complaints has increased by 69%, more than twice that of 2019, and the amount exceeds 4.5 trillion won. Internet crime victims were victims of all ages, but among them, the amount of damage in their 60s or older amounts to KRW 1 trillion. It is difficult to say that people over 60 are digitally strong and are more susceptible to online attacks, and are likely to be targets of fraud.

Among the types of cybercrime, business email fraud BEC or email account infringement EAC attracted attention. The main method of infringing the company’s email address and pretending to be an employee is the main method, with 19,369 reports of email fraud and infringement complaints in 2020, and the total damage amounted to KRW 1.9 trillion. When it comes to phishing and ransomware, which are often used in cybercrime, there are as many damages in 2020 as ever. There were 241,342 phishing cases, and the amount of damage was 58 billion won. The ransomware damage was 2,474, and the damage amounted to KRW 31 billion.

The new cybercrime concerns the Corona Assistance and Relief Economic Security Act (CARES Act) by the U.S. federal government in 2020. It is said that it has become a hotbed for hackers, and the damage is in the billions of won, such as applying for fake unemployment benefits with the personal information stolen here.

Thousands of complaints have also been reported, including seeking relief money for businesses affected by Corona 19 fraud. Among them, it is said that there were many issues related to unemployment benefits and loans.

It’s a 2020 related internet crime report, but if you don’t want to be a victim, don’t click on weird links anyway. To keep your personal information safe, you need to be careful if you receive related emails from people you don’t know. Related information can be found here.