Top 10 States for Internet Crime

The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) has released its latest Report on Internet Crime (.pdf download), reporting more than 314,000 complaints in 2011. With a reported financial loss of $485.3 million, 2011 complaints were up 3.4 percent over the previous year.

Statistics for 2011 reveal that the most commonly reported crimes were scams invoking the FBI, identity theft, advance fee fraud, nondelivery of auction items and overpayment fraud.

Top 10 States by Number of Complaints:

1. California
2. Florida
3. Texas
4. New York
5. Ohio
6. New Jersey
7. Pennsylvania
8. Illinois
9. Virginia
10. Washington

While this list is not surprising, given that its members are among the most populous states in the U.S. (Washington, with a population of 6.8 million, is the least populous state on the top 10, and ranks as the 13th most populous state), IC3 also ranked complainants per capita.

Top 10 State Complainant Rates per 100,000 Population:

1. Alaska
2. District of Columbia
3. New Jersey
4. Nevada
5. Colorado
6. Ohio
7. Maryland
8. Florida
9. Virginia
10. Washington

In a statement, Acting Assistant Director of the FBI’s Cyber Division Michael Welch called the IC3 “an efficient mechanism for the public” to report Internet crime. “These reports help law enforcement make connections between cases and identify criminals.”

The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), which launched in 2000, is a partnership between the FBI, the National White Collar Crime Center and the Bureau of Justice Assistance. IC3 is a central reporting clearinghouse for cybercrime, which provides referrals to law enforcement agencies at all levels of government.