Cybercrime Costs $633 Per US Victim, Study Says

The global cost of cybercrimes against consumers reached $113 billion this year, a 50% increase from last year. According to the Norton Report, commissioned by computer security company Symantec, fraud is the most frequent source of cybercrime costs, accounting for 38% of that $113 billion.

That global price tag breaks down to $298 per victim, and it’s more than twice that in the U.S.

Cybercrime in the U.S.

The study encompasses cybercrime in 24 countries, and while the U.S. doesn’t have the highest share of victims (Russia does), cybercrime cost the U.S. more than any other country: $38 billion in the past 12 months. China was a close second at $37 billion, and the combined cost to seven EU nations was $12 billion. Cybercrime in the U.S. cost an average of $633 per victim.

The research was conducted online between July 4 and Aug. 1 by Edelman Berland. The report presents data derived from 13,022 interviews with adults ages 18 to 64 from 24 countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the U.K. and the U.S. Respondents were asked about their experience in the preceding 12 months. The margin of error is plus or minus 0.9%.

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Among those countries, there have been 378 million victims of cybercrime in the past year.

Fifty-nine million of those victims were Americans, 64% of them male (that’s on par with the global gender divide). Compared against global statistics, the U.S. is near the average for many, with the obvious exception of cost, in addition to a few others.

Americans vs. the World

Here are some of the more striking comparisons:

60% of online file storage users in the U.S. think such platforms are safe, compared with 50% of online file storage users worldwide.
Americans are less likely to log out of their social media accounts: 47% Americans don’t, compared with a global average of 39%.
A small percentage of working Americans store personal information on their work devices (14%), while 27% of global workers do. The report highlighted how the trend of storing personal information on work devices puts businesses at risk, but Americans generally separate personal activities from work devices.

In the past year, 38% of adults have experienced mobile cybercrime, which can lead to hacked bank accounts, identity theft and other damage to a person’s financial profile. In addition to taking Internet security measures, consumers should regularly monitor their credit and check their bank statements frequently, in order to spot potential theft. You can get a free breakdown of your credit every month using Credit.com’s Credit Report Card.

Image: iStock