INTERNET CRIME: Nigeria Ranked 16th In The World
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has said Nigeria ranked 16th in its latest 2020 crime report. According to the FBI, Nigeria received 443 complaints involving internet crime.
In the previous ranking of the FBI crime report in 2015 and 2016, Nigeria ranked 3rd and 19th respectively.
The top five crimes reported include phishing, non-payment/non-delivery, extortion, personal data breach and identity theft.
In 2000, the report has it that the victims of such scams globally lost $4.2 billion, compared to $3.5 billion lost in 2019.
According to the FBI’s internet crime complaint center, it received 791,790 complaints relating to internet crime.
“Victims lost the most money to business email compromise scams, romance and confidence schemes, and investment fraud.”
“Notably, 2020 saw the emergence of scams exploiting the COVID-19 pandemic. The IC3 received over 28,500 complaints related to COVID-19, with fraudsters targeting both businesses and individuals.”
Among the most affected countries excluding the US, the United Kingdom led among the most affected countries followed by Canada, India, Greece and Australia.
South Africa is the only other African country among the top 20, ranking sixth with 1,754 complaints.
