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Online crime up 33% in the US, official figures show

The number of cases of online fraud being reported to the federal authorities in the United States has soared by 33 per cent over the past year alone, it has been revealed.

New figures released by the Internet Fraud Complaint Center, which is run jointly by the FBI alongside the White Collar Crime Center, show that losses from online fraud totalled a record $264.6 million in 2008, with this growth showing no signs of slowing down.

While the most common computer-based fraud remains an old-fashioned scam, whereby consumers pay for goods online that they never receive, the figures show that phishing and online card fraud is also on the rise across the 50 states.

John Kane, managing director of the National White Collar Crime Center in Virginia, told Reuters: "It is our belief that these numbers, both the complaints filed and the dollars, represent just a small tip of the iceberg.

"Our own research suggests that as few as 15 per cent of cases of cyber-fraud are being reported to crime control agencies," he added.

Notably, the figures also show that online crime is largely a home-grown phenomenon, with 66 per cent of reported cases originating in the US.

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