The global cost of cybercrime and fraud, the very crimes your awareness can help prevent, is now measured in the trillions of dollars annually.
Not only devastating their victims, but denying essential programs of desperately needed funding. And many of those crimes are orchestrated by the same well organized global criminal enterprises behind the most evil crimes imaginable.
Yet something as simple as your security awareness can have a major impact on those criminals. Let that be your motivation.
Global Organized Cybercrime
Global organized crime groups are not only behind some of the most devastating cyber and ransomware attacks, they often use the proceeds to fund almost every other kind of crime.
That includes drug distribution, money laundering, terrorism, investment scams, and human and sex trafficking. And in many cases supported and even encouraged by their local governments.
And many of those cybercrimes can start with a simple phishing email sent to your campus.
The Horrors of Pig Butchering
Many of the millions of scam calls and texts churned out every day, usually promoting investment scams, are operated across Asia and using thousands of human slaves to make those calls and send those texts.
Recent reports suggest these often state supported gangs currently use more than 100,000 human slaves usually abducted after promises of legitimate work in other countries.
The crime is known as “pig butchering” and many victims report losing everything. And the people making the calls are often victims too. But the people behind the crimes are not.
The Devastation of Senior Scams
Every year the elderly are scammed out of more than $10 billion, and in many cases their entire life savings wiped out, by a variety of scams operated by thousands of gangs and call centers around the world.
The crimes can be so financially and emotionally devastating, they can result in premature death for these fragile victims.
We’ve personally worked with many of these victims and their stories can be heartbreaking. Like the 84-year-old struggling with stage 4 cancer who lost her entire life savings of more than $500,000 to scammers who mocked her afterwards.
The Surge in Benefits Fraud
In April 2024 the state of California announced that its unemployment insurance program was structurally insolvent because of more than $55 billion stolen through a variety of frauds.
Experts estimate that benefits fraud will soon top more than $1 trillion every year just in the US. That will leave many agencies unable to fund essential local employment, housing, healthcare, food assistance, and community outreach programs.
Much of that stolen money makes its way back to international criminal groups working in jurisdictions outside the reach of law enforcement.
The Scourge of Ransomware
Many of the attacks targeting universities, and especially phishing emails, are focused on launching ransomware attacks against the campus.
These attacks are collectively expected to do more than a quarter of a trillion dollars in annual damages by the end of this decade.
These attacks have devastated universities, hospitals, and even entire cities, and have already cost a number of lives. And many of the attacks are orchestrated by the same international gangs behind all these other crimes.
The Cost of Data Breaches
There are now billions of personal and business records being bought and sold on the dark web, and most of those stolen in data breaches.
Data is the currency of the cybercrime underworld, and fuels many other crimes including identity theft, investment and financial scams, extortion, benefits fraud, and ransomware.
And even a small data breach can cost millions, and especially in long-term damage to reputation and trust.
Your security awareness can help combat these criminals
We hope that the devastating harm caused by cybercrime and fraud will make you angry, because in that anger is your motivation to care.
And perhaps the best way to exercise that care is to take security awareness seriously. Appreciate how simple and life-changing even a little vigilance can be, and focus on changing just a handful of those important habits.
