• by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, April 11, 2006

Even after all this time, the so-called "Nigerian letter" scam last year managed to bilk the marks who fell for it to the tune of $5,000, on average, according to a new report from the Internet Crime Complaint Center.

Of course, it shouldn't be surprising that people continue to fall for fraud schemes. After all, spammers wouldn't continue unless they were turning profits, despite all the well-publicized warnings that e-mails from Nigeria promising money to those who pay an "advance fee" are not legitimate.

Overall, complaints about online crime were up last year. The Internet Crime Complaint Center received more than 231,000 complaints last year--up 12 percent from 2004. The center referred almost half--around 97,000--to law enforcement authorities; almost all of the referrals concerned fraud.

The report also found that the cost of fraud appears to be rising. Last year, the total reached over $183 million--almost triple 2004's $68 million in losses.

The most commonly reported fraud stemmed from Web auctions, which accounted for 63 percent of complaints. Non-delivered merchandise and/or payment represented 16 percent of complaints, while credit card and debit card fraud accounted for 7 percent.

The Internet Crime Complaint Center also reported that most perpetrators--75 percent--and victims--64 percent--were men. Additionally, men lost far more money than women ($1.86 dollars lost by men for every $1 dollar lost by women).

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