Iowans Lost $5 Million To Cyber Crimes In 2016: Study

Four out of five Americans with an internet connection have made an online purchase and ecommerce is growing 23 percent year-over-year, so it stands to reason that millions of Americans will be doing a lot of their holiday shopping online in the coming weeks. In fact, Cyber Monday in 2016 was the single busiest online shopping day in history, with $3.39 billion spent.

And predictably, cyber crimes have increased as online shopping has grown more popular. A recent study by software application company OpenVPN examined reported cyber crimes, fraud and identity theft by state and found that Iowa ranks 45th, with one of the lowest instances of cyber crime and total reported losses among all states, based on FBI crime information from 2016.

According to the study, Iowans lost $5,013,079 to internet crime last year and the group of people affected most was men ages 5o to 59. The study found Iowa averaged 49.77 internet crime complaints, 342.5 fraud complaints and 68.1 theft complaints per 100,000 people for a total of 14,430 cyber crimes reported.

But a low number so far doesn't mean the trend won't change, OpenVPN said. "While you’re in the top 10 best states for low cyber crime, that doesn’t mean you’ll be there forever unless you take necessary precautions to stop cyber criminals," the study concluded. "Even as the state with the sixth least cyber crime in America, it’s still seen plenty of cyber crime."

To combat online scammers, the National Crime Protection Council offers these tips and suggestions for safe surfing and shopping:

• Keep computer systems up to date. Update software programs regularly so criminals can't exploit flaws in older systems.
• Choose a strong password and protect it. Come up with at least eight characters and use both numbers and letters. Don't use the same username and password for multiple sites, and change your password every 90 days to lessen the chance that criminals will gain access.
• Keep your firewall turned on. Firewalls protect your computer from hackers trying to gain access to crash it, delete information, or steal sensitive information. Antivirus programs also can detect issues and stop them.
• Protect personal information. Most online sites require a name, address, phone number, and email address to sign up, join or make a purchase. If you were solicited for the information or you don't trust a site you're searching, call the organization to verify authenticity. Misspellings or grammatical errors are good indicators of a bogus site that could be a scam.
• Note URLs. Any financial transaction website should have an “s” after the “http” (e.g., https://www.mystore.com). The “s” stands for secure and should appear when you are in an area that requires you to log in or provide sensitive data. Another sign of a secure website is the small lock icon at the bottom of your web browser.
• Review financial statements regularly. Look over your credit card and bank statements and alert your creditors to any peculiar or fraudulent charges immediately to reduce the impact of identity and credit card theft. And remember to check your credit report at least annually.

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