Hawaii Residents, Businesses Lose Millions To Internet Crimes: Report
The top three crime types frequently reported by victims were phishing/spoofing, personal data breach, and non-payment/non-delivery.
In the annual FBI Internet Crime Report released last month, it’s revealed that Hawaii residents and businesses reported losing $51.7 million to internet crimes in 2023 which is a 45% increase over the $35.8 million reported in 2022.
The Hawaii complaints also increased 15% from 1,703 in 2022 to 1,954 last year. FBI Internet Crime Report also indicates that internet crime losses and complaints in Hawaii are growing faster than the national average.
“The actual amount of fraud losses to internet crimes is likely much higher because many people and businesses don’t report crimes to authorities,” said AARP Hawai`i State Director Keali`i Lopez.
“That’s why AARP Hawai`i tries to educate kupuna and their loved ones about fraud prevention through the AARP Fraud Watch Network.”
AARP’s Fraud Watch Network is a free resource that educates people on how to proactively spot scams and provides access to AARP’s fraud specialists for scam victims.
The resource also advocates at the federal, state and local levels to protect consumers from fraud and actively enforce the law. Visit aarp.org/fraudwatch.
The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center received over 880,000 complaints last year with losses exceeding $12.5 billion nationally. The top three crime types frequently reported by victims were phishing/spoofing, personal data breach, and non-payment/non-delivery.
Meanwhile, the top three crime types reported by victims of fraud loss are investment scams, business email compromise, and tech support scams.
In 2023, the FBI received over 298,000 complaints for phishing and spoofing schemes, over 55,000 complaints for personal data breaches, and 50,000 complaints for non-payment/non-delivery.
“At the Fraud Watch Network, we’re seeing an increase in cryptocurrency scams and online commerce scams targeting both sellers and victims,” said Amy Nofziger, AARP Fraud Watch Network’s director of victim support. “Our Anatomy of a Scam webinar will take an in-depth look at internet and social media marketplace scams.”
AARP is offering free seminars on fraud, online scams and more. Visit events.aarp.org/hifraud24 or aarp.org/local for more information.
Victims are encouraged to immediately report cyber threats, complex financial crimes, and other online threats to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov.
