Western States Rank High in Internet Fraud Complaints

The western states have a high number of online crime complaints per capita, compared to other regions of the country. Alaska, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, Arizona and Washington ranked among the top 10 for complaints per 100,000 people, according to the Internet Crime Complaint Center, a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the National White Collar Crime Center, which recently released the “2009 Internet Crime Report.”

According to the study, online crime complaints increased substantially once again last year, with the number of fraud complaints jumping 22.3 percent and total losses linked to online fraud reaching almost $560 million. The center received a total of 336,655 complaints. The total loss linked to online fraud of $559.7 million was up from $265 million in 2008.

Advanced fee scams that fraudulently used the FBI’s name ranked No. 1. Non-delivery of merchandise and/or payment was the second most reported offense.

In addition to those referencing the FBI, popular Internet scams in 2009 involved hitmen, economic stimulus funds, astrological readings, work-from-home job sites and fake pop-up ads for antiviral software.

“The figures contained in this report indicate that criminals are continuing to take full advantage of the anonymity afforded them by the Internet. They are also developing increasingly sophisticated means of defrauding unsuspecting consumers. Internet crime is evolving in ways we couldn’t have imagined just five years ago,” said Donald Brackman, director of the White Collar Crime Complaint Center.

While most perpetrators of Internet fraud remain anonymous, in the minority of cases where victims were able to make out some identification, more than 76 percent of the perpetrators were male. Regarding victims, the average complainant was also male, between 40 and 49.

Of those complaints reporting monetary loss, the mean dollar loss was $5,580 and the median was $575. More than 20 percent (21.7 percent) of complaints referred to law enforcement involved losses of less than $100.

The Top 10 Most Common Internet Fraud Complaints