The research by tech experts at WindowsReport.com analyzed data from the FBI’s 2022 Internet Crime Report to see which state had the highest amount of cybercrime victims per 100,000 people and which states saw victims lose the most money on average.
The study found that residents in Nevada are at the highest risk of cyberattacks. The 2022 report found 9,090 cybercrime victims last year in the state, which is around 300 victims per 100,000 people when accounted for population numbers. Total victim losses in 2022 amounted to a massive $127,315,394, a loss of $14,006 per victim on average.
Coming in second place is the state of Delaware, with cybercrime in the mid-Atlantic state affecting 241 of every 100,000 people, with 2,327 victims recorded last year. Total losses added up to $40,980,800, an average loss of $17,611 per victim.
Taking third place on the list is the northwest state of Alaska. The state saw 1,539 victims of cybercrime in 2022, which is around 209 victims per 100,000 people. Victim losses amounted to $16,826,999, with each victim losing an average of $10,934.
Colorado comes in fourth place on the list, with 209 cybercrime victims per every 100,000 people and 11,683 victims recorded in 2022. Victim losses added up to $178,389,862 last year, each losing $15,269 to cybercrime on average.
Rounding out the top five is the state of California, which saw the highest recorded number of cybercrime victims in 2022, with 80,766, and comes in fifth place is 204 victims per 100,000 people.
Alabama is the state where individual victims lost the most to cybercrime on average. With a total of $247,930,058 lost to 4,893 victims, each cybercrime victim lost roughly $50,670 on average in 2022. However, with just 100 victims per every 100,000 people, the state comes in 43rd on the list of all states.
Commenting on the findings, a spokesperson for WindowsReport.com said: “If your state doesn’t appear on the list, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re not at risk either, and it’s still important to be cautious online with how clever scams are getting nowadays. This is especially true when dealing with transactions of large sums of money, which is evident with some of the huge victim losses across all states.”
Source: windowsreport.com.