FBI: FBI ranks Nigeria 16th worst affected by internet crimes

 

Nigeria has been ranked the 16th worst affected country by internet crimes in 2020.

 

The United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation released the ranking in its annual report made public on Wednesday.

 

According to the report, Nigeria is among the top 20 international victim countries of online-based crime.

 

Other countries that ranked better than Nigeria are Pakistan, China, Columbia, and Hong Kong.

 

Apart from Nigeria, South Africa was also listed among the ‘worst’ 20. South Africa rated sixth with 1,754 victims while Nigeria had 443 victims.

 

The report noted that the top three crimes reported by victims in America in 2020 were phishing scams, non-payment/non-delivery scams, and extortion, adding that victims lost the most money to business email compromise scams, romance, and confidence schemes, and investment fraud.

 

“IC3 received a record number of complaints from the American public in 2020: 791,790, with reported losses exceeding $4.1 billion. This represents a 69 per cent increase in total complaints from 2019.

 

“Business E-mail Compromise schemes continued to be the costliest: 19,369 complaints with an adjusted loss of approximately $1.8 billion. Phishing scams were also prominent: 241,342 complaints, with adjusted losses of over $54 million. The number of ransomware incidents also continues to rise, with 2,474 incidents reported in 2020,” Deputy Director of FBI, Paul Abbate, added.

 

The top 20 countries and their number of victims are:

1. United Kingdom 216,633

2. Canada 5,399

3. India 2,930

4. Greece 2,314

5. Australia 1,807

6. South Africa 1,754

7. France 1,640

8. Germany 1,578

9. Mexico 1,164

10. Belgium 1,023

11. Brazil 951

12. Philippines 898

13. Italy 728

14. Spain 618

15. Netherlands 450

16. Nigeria 443

17. Pakistan 443

18. China 442

19. Colombia 418

20. Hong Kong 407.