As countries around the world continue with their lockdowns to stop the spread of the Coronavirus, the number of cybercrime reports has surged in recent weeks. This is according to the FBI deputy assistant director, Tonya Ugoretz.

Cybercrime Surged According to FBI Assistant Director

As reported by Tonya Ugoretz, the number of complaints received related to cybercrime grew from 1,000 to 3,000 or even 4,000 daily. They expected cybercriminals were not going to be exploiting the current situation that the world is living, nonetheless, things turned out to be different.

On the matter, the FBI agent explained:

“Whereas they might typically receive 1,000 complaints a day through their internet portal, they’re now receiving something like 3,000 to 4,000 complaints a day. […] Not all of those are COVID-related, but a good number of those are.”

With the current lockdown in many countries and a prohibition to go out of the home without a reason or just for leisure, cybercriminals seem to be improving their strategies, targetting new individuals.

There are some criminals that are working in order to set up fraudulent COVID charities, deliver masks and equipment for hospitals and more. While the cryptocurrency market has been a target of cybercriminals in the last years, it seems that they are also taking advantage of the current situation.

At the same time, there have been several attacks to institutions that are working on research and investigation related to vaccines and how to improve the current situation of patients suffering from COVID 19.

It is worth mentioning that hackers have always been searching for ways to attack users and steal their funds. For example, many hackers sent fake warnings to people in expensive neighbourhoods threatening to unveil private information about them. Of course, these were just threats that required people to pay a fee for this not to happen.

Cybercriminals improve their attacking strategies over time. If there is more free time and an opportunity they can exploit they would certainly do it. The cryptocurrency market has been targetted many times. Exchanges, firms and companies have also lost millions in funds to hackers.

For example, we reported at UseTheBitcoin that the decentralized protocol dForce lost $25 million in cryptocurrencies to hackers. Users should be careful where they place their funds and take extreme measures to avoid being affected by a hack or an exploit. Other exchanges have been affected in the past as well.