Nigeria, U.S among list of countries most affected by internet crime in 2020

Nigeria is in the top 20 list of countries most affected by internet crime. According to the Internet Crime Complaint Center of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), it received 443 complaints of internet crimes from Nigeria in 2020, the 16th highest of any country across the world.

The FBI said in its 2020 Internet Crime Report released on Wednesday, March 17, 2021 that a total of 791,790 complaints of suspected internet crime were made in America, over 300,000 more than in 2019, Today.ng reports.

Reported losses in the U.S. alone exceeded $4.2 billion, with phishing scams, non-payment/non-delivery scams, and extortion the top three crimes reported by victims.

“Victims lost the most money to business email compromise scams, romance and confidence schemes, and investment fraud,” FBI said.

Cybercriminals also capitalized on the COVID-19 pandemic to exploit many vulnerable people and businesses, resulting in over 28,500 complaints, according to Today.ng.

The United Kingdom topped the list of countries with the highest number of complaints with 216,633 reports by victims, followed by Canada with 5,399, India with 2,930, Greece with 2,314, and Australia with 1,807.

The list excluded the United States.