ANN ARBOR—The Cybercrime Support Network, the national voice of cybercrime and online fraud victims, received a gift of $400,000 from Craig Newmark Philanthropies, the organization of Craigslist founder Craig Newmark.
With this donation, in addition to $148,000 gifted by Newmark in 2018, CSN can continue to expand its efforts to aid consumers and small businesses that are affected by cybercrime in the recovery and reporting process.
The impact of an online scam or attack can be devastating, and finding help can be confusing. In 2018, more than 350,000 complaints from individuals and small businesses were filed with the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). The monetary losses from those issues totaled more than $2.7 billion. Experts estimate that these figures represent only a small number of the actual people and small businesses that are impacted by cybercrime.
This foundational funding from Craig Newmark Philanthropies will allow CSN to provide programming for three to five states in early 2020. It will also bring CSN closer to reaching its goal of establishing a single national phone number that all Americans can call to receive help with cybercrime issues by the end of 2021. Furthermore, the gift makes CSN eligible to apply later in 2019 for an additional $13 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Justice Victim of Crime Act, which requires matching support.
“The CSN team is humbled by Craig’s gift and his support for our mission to get victims of cybercrime and online fraud across the country the help they need,” said Kristin Judge, founder and CEO of CSN. “With his past help, we have already had 230,000 people visit FraudSupport.org to get support before, during and after a cybercrime occurs. Together, we will serve millions of Americans when they most need help.”
CSN was founded to build a national cybercrime victim hotline that connects victims to resources, increases crime reporting, and helps to address the lack of information that is available to law enforcement and industry. Working alongside state and local partners, CSN has been awarded federal funds in multiple states to implement the hotline. Rhode Island went live in May 2019, and additional states will follow before the end of the year.
“Although tech makes our lives more convenient, it also creates vulnerabilities, like the potential for data hacks, that pose huge threats to our personal security and privacy,” said Newmark. “This is an all-hands-on-deck issue, and I’m proud to support CSN and their exemplary work in helping those who have been harmed by cybercrime.”
This story was published by Technology Century.
