- At present, SA is ranked 6th in terms of the nations which are most impacted by cyber-crime. Notably, it was among the top 10 countries in the world in 2021 to have encountered incidents of this type of crime.
- SA had 52 victims per one million internet users.
- Phishing continues to be the most common cyber-crime for the third year in a row. In 2021, there were 323 972 phishing victims. In other words, every second individual who fell for an online crime fell for a phishing attack. In 2020, there were 241 343 phishing victims. On average, phishing victims lost the least amount of money (R 2 193.57 per victim), while people who fell victim to investment fraud lost the most (R 1 142 118.72 per victim on average).
- Investment fraud had the highest financial impact in total on its victims and people lost about R 24 203 242 004.25 this way in 2021.
- The 24 300 confidence or romance fraud victims lost on average R 634 600.01 in 2021 while 93 500 online payment fraud victims lost on average R 75 087.74.
- Malware and ransomware attacks are becoming more exclusive to businesses. They claimed around 4 500 victims in 2021. There were 3 700 ransomware attack victims who collectively lost R 793 677 631.32 and 800 000 malware attacks where victims collectively lost R 735 630, .00. Compared to phishing, that is more than 70 times fewer victims.
- Since 2001, the online crime victim count increased 17 times (from six victims to 97 victims every hour) and financial losses grew almost 400 times (from R 32 264.546 to R 12 713 285.90 losses per hour).
- In total, cyber-crime claimed at least 6 502 323 victims and R 421 345 399 307.70 in losses over the 21-year period.
As more of our lives become digital, the chances of falling victim to online crimes increases every year.
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