Online crime complaints increased substantially once again last year, according to a report from the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), a partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C). Non-delivery of merchandise and/or payment was the second most reported offense (11.9 percent).

The IC3 2009 annual report about fraudulent activity on the Internet reveals that the organization received a total of 336,655 complaints in 2009, a 22.3 percent increase from 2008. The total loss linked to online fraud was $559.7 million; that was up from $265 million in 2008.

Although the complaints consisted of a variety of fraud types, advanced fee scams that fraudulently used the FBI's name ranked number one (16.6 percent).

NW3C Director Donald Brackman said the report’s findings underscore the threat posed by cyber criminals. "The figures contained in this report indicate that criminals are continuing to take full advantage of the anonymity afforded them by the Internet. They are also developing increasingly sophisticated means of defrauding unsuspecting consumers. Internet crime is evolving in ways we couldn't have imagined just five years ago."

The report is posted in its entirety on the IC3 website.