In 2023, over 298 thousand individuals in the United States reported encountering phishing attacks. This figure had decreased by 0.5 percent compared to the previous year, when the number of phishing attacks nationwide amounted to over 300 thousand. However, in 2020 and 2019, this number was relatively low, around 241 thousand and 114 thousand, respectively.

In December 2023, around 9.45 million phishing e-mails were detected worldwide, up from 5.59 million in September 2023. This figure has seen a continuous increase since January 2022. It is partially associated with the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022.

In 2023, the most common type of cyber crime reported to the United States internet Crime Complaint Center was phishing and spoofing, affecting approximately 298 thousand individuals. In addition, over 55 thousand cases of personal data breaches cases were reported to the IC3 during that year. Dynamic of phishing attacks Over the past few years, phishing attacks have increased significantly. In 2023, almost 300 thousand individuals fell victim to such attacks. The highest number of phishing scam victims since 2018 was recorded in 2021, approximately 324 thousand.Phishing attacks can take many shapes. Bulk phishing, smishing, and business e-mail compromise (BEC) are the most common types. In 2023, 76 percent of the surveyed worldwide organizations reported encountering bulk phishing attacks, while roughly three in four were targeted by smishing scams. Impact of phishing attacks Among the most targeted industries by cybercriminals are healthcare, financial, manufacturing, and education institutions. An observation carried out in the first quarter of 2023 found that social media was most likely to encounter phishing attacks. According to the reports, almost a quarter of them stated being targeted by a phishing scam in the measured period. Very often, phishing e-mails contain a crucial risk for the organization. Almost three in ten worldwide organizations that have experienced phishing attacks suffered from a customer or a client data breach as a consequence. Phishing scams that delivered ransomware infections were also common for the surveyed organizations.

As of December 2023, Indonesia recorded around ***** of phishing attacks, an increase compared to the previous month. From the first quarter to the fourth quarter of 2023, the highest number of phishing attacks happened in February, amounted to around more than ** thousand cases.

In 2023, around 27.32 percent of total phishing attacks worldwide targeted financial institutions, down from 36.3 percent in 2022. Among the organizations attacked by financial phishing, web services were the most targeted, with more than 24 percent of phishing attacks involving them.

As of the fourth quarter of 2023, the majority of phishing attacks in Indonesia were targeted on social media platforms, reaching ***** percent. It was followed by financial institution platforms, with a share of about ***** percent.

Phishing was the most prevalent form of scam in Australia in 2023, with over 108.6 housand incidents reported. There were also around 39.5 thousand reports of false billing.

In 2023, web services were targeted most by phishing attacks. They accounted for over 24 percent of financial phishing attacks worldwide. Delivery company ranked second with nearly 16 percent, while Global internet portals followed with 14.46 percent of the phishing attacks in the examined year.

In the second quarter of 2023, smartphone users in North America encountered around ***** thousand phishing and malicious attempts worldwide, making it the region with the highest number of such incidents. Europe ranked second, with more than *** thousand phishing and malicious attempts.

The number of phishing attacks in 2023 in Romania peaked in April, totaling 39,615 cyber attacks, which accounted for half of all phishing attacks in that year. By contrast, in December the number of phishing crimes was 1,385.

In 2023, there were around 11,500 victims of phishing scams or fraud in South Korea. This was a decrease of around three percent compared to the previous year. During the period of consideration, the number peaked in 2019 with more than 50.3 thousand victims of phishing attacks.

In 2023, global internet portals saw more than ** percent of phishing attacks worldwide, making it the most targeted industry by phishing. Web services ranked second, while Online stores and banks followed, with over ** and ***** percent of the attacks directed to these industries.

In 2023, individuals over 60 years in the United States accounted for the highest amount of financial losses of reported cyber crime in the United States. People in this age group lost around 3.4 billion U.S. dollars. Despite filing the second highest number of complaints, cyber crime victims aged between 30 and 39 old did not have as high financial losses.

In 2023, individuals over the age of 60 accounted for the highest number of recorded cyber crime victims in the United States. According to the latest data, more than 104,068 people reported cyber crimes in the year examined. The second-most targeted were individuals between 30 and 39 years, with over 88 thousand complaints.

In 2023, the monetary damage caused by cybercrime reported to the United States' Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) saw a year-over-year increase of around 21 percent, amounting to a historical peak of 12.5 billion U.S. dollars. Cybercrime in the U.S. Cybercrime continues to be one of the biggest challenges for governments around the world. In the United States, phishing and personal data breaches were among the most reported categories of cybercrime in 2022, with over 300 thousand people falling victim to phishing attacks. Additionally, data breaches cost the U.S. organizations over nine million U.S. dollars on average as of January 2023. Identity theft is a serious issue in the U.S. Along with other reported online crimes, identity theft was a prevalent issue that affected millions of people in the United States. The country ranked second globally in reported cases of identity theft, with an estimated 13.5 million Americans falling victim to this crime. As a result, millions of users had their lives turned upside down. In January 2023, 43 percent of identity theft victims reported wasting their time resolving issues, while 33 percent had no choice but to freeze their credit cards. Furthermore, sometimes threat actors targeted seniors, as in 2022, more than 4800 individuals over 60 reported being victims of identity theft.

Phishing, smishing, and business e-mail compromise (BEC) have been the most widespread types of cyber attacks in the United States, resulting in data compromises. In 2023, these attacks made up around 18 percent of the total cyber attacks in the country that led to a violation of personal data. Ransomware attacks ranked second, while malware followed. A significant part of the examined attacks, 58 percent, were unspecified.

As of January 2023, phishing, spear phishing, or smishing were the most common types of cyberattacks in France, with around six in 10 companies encountering it. The exploitation of a vulnerability ranked second, with 43 percent. The third most common cyberattack was denial-of-service attack (DOS), detected by 34 percent of the respondents.

A September 2023 survey of American adults found that three in 10 respondents had experienced financial fraud or cybercrime. Individuals between 35 and 54 years were more often targeted by financial cybercrime, with 36 percent stating so. Among the younger generation, individuals between 18 and 34 years, this share was lower, 22 percent.

In 2023, individuals aged 60 and older in the United States lost more than 1.2 billion U.S. dollars in online investment fraud, an increase from 990 million U.S. dollars in the previous year. This was the cybercrime type, causing the most significant monetary damage to the elderly victims. Tech support scams ranked second, causing the victims around 590 million U.S. dollars in losses. Romance scams followed third, registering nearly 356 million U.S. dollar losses in the examined year.

A March 2023 research found that AI-generated phishing e-mails tricked 65 percent of users into revealing personal information in input fields linked in the e-mails. On the contrary, human-generated phishing e-mails provoked 60 percent of the receivers into such interaction. Meanwhile, the share of individuals who clicked on malicious links or attachments in human-generated phishing e-mails was 27 percent, compared to 21 percent clicks in AI-written e-mails.