Cybercrime Victimization

Of the 218 cyberstalking cases surveyed by Working to Halt Online Abuse (WHOA) in 2002, 20.4 percent began as email communications, 14 percent from a message board conversation, 11.5 percent from instant messaging, 8.5 percent from a website, and 7.5 percent from chat rooms. (Working to Halt Online Abuse. Online Harassment Statistics. www.haltabuse.org. Site visited 10/10/03.)

A survey of 218 cyberstalking victims in 2002 reveals that over 77 percent are Caucasian; 71 percent are women, and 49 percent are between the ages of 18-30 years old. (Ibid.)

The FBI’s Internet Fraud Complaint Center received 48,252 complaints in 2002 that were referred to prosecutors. The Center also received an additional 37,000 complaints that did not constitute fraud, but were cases of unsolicited email, illegal child pornography, computer intrusions, as well as many other violations of the law. (Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Internet Fraud Complaint Center. www.ic3.gov. Site visited 02/17/06.)

The total costs of internet fraud cases reported to the FBI’s Fraud Complaint Center was $54 million in 2002. The victims of internet identity theft averaged a $2,000 loss, and victims of check fraud averaged $1,000. (Ibid.)

There were 2,600 reported cases of the Nigerian letter fraud in 2001. The number of reported cases lept to over 16,000 in 2002. (Ibid.)

The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) has estimated that Internet-related stock fraud is currently the second most common form of investment fraud. That same source estimated that investors lose $10 billion per year (or $1 million per hour) to this type of fraud. (Federal Bureau of Inestigation’s Economic Crimes Unit.)

Between March 1998 and September 2003, the CyberTipline operated by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has received a total of 118,987 reports of child pornography, and 1,890 reported cases of child prostitution. There have been 867 cases of child sex tourism, and 5,057 cases of child molestation (not in the family). Also, there were 8,768 reported cases of online enticement. (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Cybertipline Fact Sheet. http://www.ncmec.org/en_US/publications/NC13.pdf. Site visited 10/23/03.)