US consumers lost $54 million in Internet fraud last year, compared with $17 million a year ealier, as the number of complaints referred to law authorities tripled.
The FBI's Internet Fraud Complaint Centre (IFCC), which is managed in part by the National White Collar Crime Centre (NW3C), said it referred 48,252 complaints out of the 75,063 it received last year, nearly three times the number referred in 2001.
Auction fraud accounted for 46% of complaints while instances of non-delivered merchandise and non-payment made up 31% of referred complaints, Credit and debit card fraud came in third at a little under 12%.
The biggest monetary losses fell to victims of Nigerian get-rich-quick scams who lost an average $3864. People who claimed to be victims of identity theft lost an average of $2000, and those who suffered cheque fraud lost a median of $1100.
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