Cybercrime generated more than 10 billion dollars in losses from 801,000 complaints. Credential theft appeared in 49 percent of breaches while ransomware detections rose 105 percent year over year. The data detail attack methods, enforcement results, and financial damage across sectors.
Key Takeaways
- Phishing was involved in 16% of breaches with $4.76 million average cost in 2023
- FBI arrested 2,300 cyber criminals in 2022 Operation Wire Wire
- In 2022, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) reported total losses from cybercrime exceeding $10.3 billion from 800,944 complaints
- 65% of cyber criminals are under 35 years old per 2023 studies
- 61% of US residents faced phishing attempts in 2023
Computer crime continues to rise, with breaches and fraud driving the majority of reported losses.
Related reading
01 · Category
Attack Types25 stats
01
Phishing was involved in 16% of breaches with $4.76 million average cost in 2023
02
Ransomware accounted for 24% of breaches in 2023 Verizon DBIR
03
Credential theft used in 49% of breaches per 2023 DBIR
04
DDoS attacks surged 483% in Q4 2023 per Cloudflare
05
SQL injection remains top web app vuln exploited in 8% of incidents
06
83% of organizations experienced phishing attempts in 2023 Proofpoint
07
Malware involved in 22% of 2023 DBIR breaches
08
BEC scams topped IC3 complaints with 21,000 reports in 2022
09
Ransomware complaints hit 136,000 in 2022 IC3
10
Investment fraud 69,300 complaints in 2022
11
Cryptocurrency fraud 80,400 complaints in 2022
12
Personal data breaches 298,000 complaints in 2022 IC3
13
Extortion 52,000 complaints in 2022
14
Tech support scams 23,800 complaints in 2022
15
Spoofing 300,000 complaints in 2022 IC3
16
74% of breaches involved human element per 2023 DBIR
17
Use of stolen credentials in 88% of web app compromises 2023
18
Vulnerability exploitation in 60% of malware incidents 2023 DBIR
19
Social engineering in 15% of 2023 Verizon breaches
20
Zero-day exploits used in 3.5% of attacks but high impact
21
IoT DDoS attacks made up 20% of total DDoS in 2023
22
Mobile phishing (smishing) rose 58% in 2023
23
Vishing (voice phishing) incidents up 31% in 2023 Proofpoint
24
Supply chain compromises affected 15% of organizations in 2023
25
36% of data breaches due to stolen or brute-forced credentials 2023
Interpretation
Attack Types Interpretation
Despite humanity's dazzling array of digital defenses, the cybercrime landscape of 2023 grimly reminds us that our weakest link is, and always will be, the squishy human element, cleverly exploited through phishing, stolen passwords, and emotional manipulation, making the keyboard both our greatest tool and our most glaring liability.
02 · Category
Enforcement and Trends20 stats
01
FBI arrested 2,300 cyber criminals in 2022 Operation Wire Wire
02
Global cybercrime complaints to IC3 up 10% to 800k in 2022
03
Ransomware detections up 105% year-over-year in 2023 Sophos
04
Data breaches reported increased 20% to 8,236 in 2023 US
05
Europol dismantled 1,000 cyber crime servers in 2023
06
Phishing sites blocked rose to 1.5 million by APWG in 2023
07
US DOJ seized $30 million in crypto from ransomware gangs 2023
08
Cybercrime convictions up 25% in EU with 1,200 cases 2023
09
Breach disclosure time averaged 204 days in 2023 IBM
10
MFA adoption rose to 50% reducing phishing success by 99%
11
Global DDoS mitigation capacity hit 15 Tbps in 2023 Cloudflare
12
AI-driven attacks expected to triple by 2025 per predictions
13
Zero-trust implementations up 250% since 2020 in enterprises
14
Ransomware groups disrupted 12 major in 2023 by law enforcement
15
Crypto scam takedowns recovered $500 million for victims 2023
16
Employee training reduced phishing clicks by 40% in 2023
17
International ops arrested 200+ in Emotet botnet takedown 2023
18
Detection speed for breaches down to 204 days from 277 in 2020
19
Cyber insurance market grew 25% to $14 billion in 2023
20
5G networks saw 600% rise in attacks since rollout 2023
Interpretation
Enforcement and Trends Interpretation
While law enforcement is dramatically upping its game, the digital front lines are a frenzied arms race where defenders' hard-won gains—like faster breach detection and widespread MFA—are constantly tested by a staggering surge in ransomware, phishing, and AI-powered attacks.
03 · Category
Financial Impact30 stats
01
In 2022, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) reported total losses from cybercrime exceeding $10.3 billion from 800,944 complaints
02
Cybercrime costs the global economy an estimated $8 trillion annually in 2023, projected to reach $10.5 trillion by 2025
03
Business email compromise (BEC) scams caused $2.9 billion in losses in 2022 according to IC3 data
04
Ransomware attacks resulted in $1.1 billion in reported losses in 2022 per FBI IC3
05
The average cost of a data breach in 2023 was $4.45 million globally, up 15% over three years
06
Phishing attacks led to $52 million in losses in 2022 via IC3 complaints
07
Investment fraud complaints numbered 69,000 with $3.3 billion losses in 2022, FBI IC3
08
Cryptocurrency scams reported 80,000 incidents causing $3.9 billion losses in 2022
09
Global cybercrime damages reached $6 trillion in 2021, doubling from 2020
10
US businesses lost $4.2 billion to cybercrime in 2023 per FBI estimates
11
Average ransomware payment in 2023 was $1.54 million
12
BEC scams averaged $120,000per incident loss in 2022
13
Tech support scams caused 23,000 complaints with $836 million losses in 2022
14
Personal information theft led to $5.1 billion in identity theft losses in 2022
15
Global cost of cybercrime expected to hit $13.82 trillion by 2030 annually
16
DDoS attacks cost businesses $52,000per hour of downtime on average in 2023
17
Healthcare data breaches cost $10.93 million on average in 2023
18
Retail sector cybercrime losses averaged $3.36 million per breach in 2023
19
Energy sector faced $4.72 million average breach cost in 2023
20
Financial services breach costs hit $5.90 million average in 2023
21
Extortion ransomware variant caused 66% of incidents with $1.2 billion losses in 2022
22
Online auction fraud losses totaled $210 million from 15,000 complaints in 2022
23
Confidence fraud schemes resulted in $900 million losses in 2022
24
Non-payment/non-delivery scams cost $130 million in 2022
25
Credit card fraud reported 35,000 cases with unspecified losses in 2022 IC3
26
Global phishing costs estimated at $26 billion annually in 2023
27
Malware attacks led to $4.5 billion losses in US in 2021
28
Cyber insurance claims rose 30% with average payout $4 million in 2023
29
Supply chain attacks cost average $4.35 million per incident in 2023
30
Insider threats cause 34% of breaches with $4.9 million average cost
Interpretation
Financial Impact Interpretation
While cybercriminals are having a digital gold rush, this data proves their most profitable industry is simply draining the lifeblood of the global economy.
More related reading
04 · Category
Perpetrator Profiles21 stats
01
65% of cyber criminals are under 35 years old per 2023 studies
02
Organized crime groups responsible for 80% of ransomware attacks 2023
03
Nation-state actors conducted 30% of advanced persistent threats in 2023
04
90% of phishing campaigns originate from 10 countries led by Nigeria
05
Eastern Europe hosts 70% of dark web markets for stolen data 2023
06
Average cyber criminal age 25-34 in Europol IOCTA 2023
07
50% of ransomware groups operate as Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS)
08
China-based actors behind 40% of IP theft incidents 2023
09
Russia-linked groups conducted 25% of global DDoS attacks 2023
10
60% of BEC perpetrators use English as primary language per IC3
11
Lone wolf hackers 20% of total arrests for cybercrime 2022
12
Females make up 10% of identified cyber criminals 2023 Europol
13
75% of darknet users are from US, Russia, Germany 2023
14
Insider threats 34% from current employees average age 42
15
North Korea stole $1.7 billion in crypto via 5 swaps in 2023
16
Iranian hackers targeted 15% of critical infra attacks 2023
17
85% of arrested cyber criminals had prior non-cyber offenses
18
RaaS affiliates earn average $100k per attack profit 2023
19
40% of perpetrators use VPNs from India and Vietnam bases
20
Teen hackers (under 18) 15% of juvenile cyber arrests US 2023
21
55% of crypto theft by North Korean Lazarus Group 2023
Interpretation
Perpetrator Profiles Interpretation
Despite the average cyber criminal being under 35, the field is alarmingly professionalized, as it’s dominated by organized ransomware gangs, nation-state actors, and dark web markets, yet still managed by people who were likely committing offline crimes and speaking English over VPNs just a few years ago.
05 · Category
Victim Statistics23 stats
01
61% of US residents faced phishing attempts in 2023
02
Small businesses (under 1,000 employees) hit by 43% of cyber attacks in 2023
03
82% of breaches targeted businesses not individuals per 2023 DBIR
04
Financial sector saw 25% of all reported breaches in 2023
05
Healthcare victims in 20% of ransomware attacks 2023 Sophos
06
300 million personal records exposed in breaches in first half 2023
07
Seniors over 60 reported 25% higher losses to tech support scams
08
Millennials (25-40) most targeted by investment fraud per IC3 2022
09
46% of SMBs experienced cyber attack in past year 2023
10
Women reported 40% of phishing victimization rates equal to men in 2023
11
Government entities faced 14% of DDoS attacks in 2023
12
Education sector 13% of phishing targets in 2023 Proofpoint
13
Retail hit by 11% of data breaches in 2023 Verizon
14
52% of ransomware victims were US-based organizations in 2023
15
Over 50% of victims paid ransomware but 75% faced re-attack
16
Large enterprises (50k+ employees) 60% more likely to be breached
17
Public sector average detection time 294 days for breaches 2023
18
Manufacturing sector 24% of industrial cyber incidents 2023
19
28% of individuals used MFA despite phishing risks 2023
20
Critical infrastructure 18% of nation-state attacks targets 2023
21
70% of victims in BEC scams were businesses with 100+ employees 2022
22
Africa saw 25% increase in victims per capita for crypto scams 2023
23
40% of data breach victims were repeat targets within 2 years
Interpretation
Victim Statistics Interpretation
The digital wild west is booming, as phishing lassos the masses and ransomware bullies businesses large and small, while repeat victims and slow governments prove that forgetting a cyber skirmish is the surest way to lose the war.
Reference
Cite This Report
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APA
Henrik Dahl. (2026, February 13). Computer Crime Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/computer-crime-statistics
MLA
Henrik Dahl. "Computer Crime Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/computer-crime-statistics.
Chicago
Henrik Dahl. 2026. "Computer Crime Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/computer-crime-statistics.
Sources & references
28 datasets cited across this report · attribution is report-level