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Compare Cybercrime Losses in Texas

Texas cybercrime victims lost $1,021.5 million in 2023, ranking second in the nation. FBI data watch.

With rapidly changing technologies, near-ubiquitous use of the Internet and increasingly clever scams, cybercrime is on the rise – and Americans, in particular, are being cheated out of billions. Hundreds of thousands more cybercrimes were reported in the United States in 2023 compared to the other top 19 countries combined.

Drata analyzed the state of cybercrime in Texas as part of a broader national analysisusing the FBI2023 Internet Crime Report.

FBI data shows that cybercrime cost Americans $12.5 billion in 2023, a figure that has been increasing every year for at least five years. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, or IC3, received a record number of more than 880,000 complaints in 2023, with victims reporting losses of more than $14,000 on average. It’s worth noting that cybercrimes are vastly underreported, making the FBI’s data — which only includes reported crimes — woefully incomplete.

Texas residents reported 47,305 cybercrimes in 2023, which represents approximately 155 cybercrime victims per million residents. On average, these victims reported losses of $21,595.

Overall losses were $33 per capita in Texas, ranking 18th in the nation.

Cybercrime affects people of all ages in all parts of the country. Almost 1 in 3 Americans have been victims of online financial fraud or cybercrime, according to a 2023 Ipsos survey on behalf of Wells Fargo. Earlier this year, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency released draft rules for reporting cyberattacks among critical infrastructure institutions, which would require reporting of significant attacks and ransoms paid. In the future, these guidelines will allow for more comprehensive data collection, at least from major entities. Still, current numbers clearly show that some Americans are more exposed to scams than others.

Americans over 60 reported the highest number of complaints and the highest volume of losses in 2023. They bore the brunt of the escalating violence. ghost hacker scamswhere attackers impersonate IT personnel, banking/investment personnel, and government officials to establish authority and trust in victims. About half of those who filed complaints were aged 60 or older and suffered losses of more than $770 million.

Yet increasingly sophisticated scams increase risks for younger, more tech-savvy populations. Of the $2.2 billion increase in cybercrime losses between 2022 and 2023, more than half was due to a surge in cryptocurrency scams. Crypto scams make up most digital investment fraud, a category affecting age groups over 30 relatively equally.

Drata

National aspect: high losses in technological and political centers

In the United States, political, technological and gaming centers suffered particularly high losses. In the nation’s capital, victims of cybercrime lost more than $46 million to scams, almost double the national loss per capita. Residents of California and Nevada also reported heavy losses.

As the nation’s capital, Washington DC is an obvious target for cybercriminals. Government facilities were among the the biggest critical infrastructure targets for ransomware attacks in 2023. DC has experienced several high-profile data breachesincluding leaks of election records and personal information of senior national security officials. Attacks were also launched against political action committees, threatening campaign financiers, lobbyists and donors.

California’s high-tech culture makes it another obvious target for cybercriminals. Californians, from Silicon Valley to Los Angeles, were among the first to be affected by growing crypto fraud. This includes more advanced cons, in which scammers establish relationships with people through dating apps, social media, networking sites and other means, then convince them to invest in cryptocurrency through fake websites and apps.

The California state government has already taken action, limit withdrawals from bitcoin ATMs after a series of scams using them. In May, the San Francisco division of the FBI issued a memo alert on AI-driven cybercrime, such as automated, highly targeted phishing campaigns and advanced voice and video impersonations of friends, family and colleagues.

As cybercrime becomes more advanced, it also wreaks havoc on entire systems or disrupts businesses. In neighboring Nevada, Las Vegas – a hub of flashy business and incessant spending – also faced major attacks last year. Two of the city’s largest casino and hotel operators were targeted in attacks that forced someone to shut down their casino, hotel and key systems and the other to pay around $15 million to prevent its data from being leaked. Last January, the Nevada Gaming Control Board was also hacked.

Although many people and institutions lost money to scams last year, timely reporting and enforcement helped prevent further losses. The FBI has helped freeze victims’ funds in thousands of incidents and prevented approximately 71% of the losses in these cases. Even in cases where victims’ funds have already been stolen, reporting losses helps the FBI investigate and connect chains of crimes, identify and warn the public of emerging scams, and track down cybercriminals.

This story features data reporting and writing by Paxtyn Merten and is part of a series using data automation in 50 states and Washington DC.

This story originally appeared on Drata and was produced and
distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.