Cybercrime victims in South Carolina lost $120.0 million in 2023, ranking No. 26 in the nation, FBI data shows.
With rapidly evolving technologies, near-ubiquitous internet use, and increasingly savvy scams, cybercrime is on the rise—and Americans, in particular, are being swindled out of billions. Hundreds of thousands more cybercrimes were reported in the U.S. in 2023 than the other top 19 countries combined.
Drata analyzed the state of cybercrime in South Carolina as part of a larger national analysis, using the FBI's 2023 Internet Crime Report.
FBI data shows that cybercrimes cost Americans $12.5 billion in 2023—a figure that has grown annually for at least five years. The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center, or IC3, received a record 880,000-plus complaints in 2023, with victims reporting losses of more than $14,000 on average. Notably, cybercrimes are vastly underreported, making the FBI data—which only includes reported crimes—woefully incomplete.
South Carolina residents reported 9,736 cybercrimes in 2023, amounting to about 181 cybercrime victims per million people. On average, these victims reported losses of $12,320.
Overall losses mounted to $22 per resident in South Carolina, ranking No. 32 in the nation.
Cybercrime affects people of all ages in all parts of the country. Nearly 1 in 3 Americans have been victims of online financial fraud or cybercrime, according to a 2023 Ipsos poll on behalf of Wells Fargo. Earlier this year, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency published draft rules for cyberattack reporting among critical infrastructure institutions, which would mandate reporting of substantial attacks and ransoms paid. In the future, these guidelines will allow for more comprehensive data collection, at least among major entities. Even so, current numbers make it clear that some Americans are more at risk of scams than others.
Americans older than 60 reported the highest number of complaints and volume of losses in 2023. They bore the brunt of an escalation in phantom hacker scams, where attackers impersonate IT, banking/investment personnel, and government officials to establish authority and trust with victims. About half of those who filed related complaints were 60 or older and experienced over $770 million in losses.
Still, increasingly sophisticated scams heighten the risks for younger and more tech-savvy populations. Of the $2.2 billion increase in cybercrime losses from 2022-2023, more than half was due to a surge in cryptocurrency scams. Crypto scams comprise most digital investment fraud, a category affecting age groups over 30 relatively evenly.
Drata
National look: losses high in technology and political centers
Within the U.S., centers of politics, technology, and gambling experienced particularly high losses. In the nation's capital, cybercrime victims lost over $46 million in scams, nearly doubling the national loss per capita. California and Nevada residents also reported heavy losses.