What percent of Americans have been the victim of a financial crime?
Nearly 1 in 3 Americans (31%) report being a victim of online financial fraud or cybercrime. Americans ages 35-54 (36%) and 55+ (34%) are more likely to report that they have been a victim of financial cybercrime compared to those ages 18-34 (22%).
Money laundering accounted for trillions of dollars funding a range of destructive crimes, including an estimated $346.7B in human trafficking and $782.9B in drug trafficking activity, as well as $11.5B in terrorist financing. In 2023, fraud scams and bank fraud schemes totaled $485.6B in projected losses globally.
The 15% saying they or someone in their household has succumbed to a scammer's tricks puts scams among the four most prevalent crimes affecting American households. It is on par with the 16% each who report having had property vandalized, having had money or property stolen, or having suffered identity theft.
Bernie Madoff
But the Madoff story was revived in 2023 with the successful Netflix documentary "The Monster of Wall Street," which retold the tale of the mastermind behind the biggest Ponzi scheme ever recorded.
Victims of violent crime are more likely to be low-income, young (especially under 30), and Latino or African American . Two in three crime victims report experiencing anxiety, stress and difficulty with sleeping, relationships or work .
At least 353 million individuals were impacted. According to the FBI's Internet Crime Report 2023, 880,418 complaints of cyber-crime were reported to the FBI by the public, a 10 percent increase from 2022.
By complying with these regulations, financial institutions can help prevent financial crimes such as fraud, money laundering, and the financing of terrorist activity.
According to our extensive research: Approximately $300 billion is laundered through the United States each year. Worldwide, criminals launder between $800 million and $2 trillion each year.
As the fastest-growing financial crime in the United States, synthetic identity fraud bears a staggering $6 billion cost to banks. To perpetrate the crime, malicious actors leverage a combination of real and fake information to fabricate a synthetic identity, also known as a “Frankenstein ID.”
“The FTC is working hard to take action against those scams." The FTC received fraud reports from 2.6 million consumers last year, nearly the same amount as 2022.
How much money is scammed from Americans?
Consumers reported losing $10 billion to scams and fraud in 2023, up from $9 billion the year before, according to newly released numbers from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
1. California: Fraud Capital of the U.S.
In the first quarter of 2023, California ranked first in terms of total fraud reports, with a count of roughly 47,000. Relative to population, it came in 18th place, with 244 reports for every 100,000 residents.
- Drug Abuse and Trafficking. Drug abuse and trafficking involve the illegal possession, distribution, and sale of drugs. ...
- Assault. Assault is a violent crime that involves intentional or reckless bodily harm to another person. ...
- DUI/DWI. ...
- Burglary. ...
- Theft. ...
- Fraud. ...
- Robbery. ...
- Embezzlement.
Jordan Belfort swindled over $200 million via a penny stock boiler room operation. The Wolf of Wall Street is based on his life and fraudulent activity. Horatio Bottomley, newspaper owner and Member of Parliament, convicted of fraudulent conversion.
| Rank | State | Violent Crime Rate per 1,000 Residents |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Mexico | 7.80 |
| 2 | Arkansas | 6.45 |
| 3 | Louisiana | 6.29 |
| 4 | Colorado | 4.92 |
Blacks are most often the victims of violence--the violent victimization rate for blacks is 50 percent higher than for whites. Juveniles are much more likely to be killed or injured by crime in comparison to other age groups.
Theft or larceny is the most common type of property crime. It's estimated that someone is a victim of theft every 5.5 seconds. The next most common crime is burglary, which involves breaking and entering.
To anyone who has ever studied crime (or even just listened to every episode of a true crime podcast), it is no surprise that most serial killers are male. A leading theory for this phenomenon is that men are simply more violent than women.
| Characteristic | Number of victims |
|---|---|
| Under 20 years | 18,174 |
| 20-29 years | 62,410 |
| 30-39 years | 88,138 |
| 40-49 years | 84,052 |
On average, less than 5% of hackers and other cybercriminals are caught, and only 0.3% of all reported cybercrime complaints are enforced. There are many issues that come with trying to police cybercrime.
What percentage of people are affected by cyber crime?
Nearly 1 billion emails were exposed in a single year, affecting 1 in 5 internet users. Data breaches cost businesses an average of $4.35 million in 2022. Around 236.1 million ransomware attacks occurred globally in the first half of 2022. 1 in 2 American internet users had their accounts breached in 2021.
2024 is the year for organizations to leverage AI tools and shore up fraud defenses. Additionally, according to a recent report from Deloitte, synthetic identity fraud is the fastest-growing financial crime in the U.S., with no signs of abating.
Rising trend on fraud
In 2023, fraud has shown an upward trend becoming one of the biggest and fastest growing financial crimes that's committed by the criminals. Investment, identity, tax and credit card scams are among the most common forms of fraud in 2023.
- money laundering.
- tax evasion.
- embezzlement.
- forgery and counterfeiting.
- identity theft.
- bribery and corruption.
- terrorism financing.
- wash trading and pump-and-dumps.
The top five districts for money laundering offenders were: Southern District of Florida (42); ♦ Southern District of New York (33); ♦ Southern District of Texas (33); ♦ Northern District of Ohio (31); ♦ Western District of Missouri (26). months. 87.7% of were sentenced to prison.
