It is difficult to accurately measure the scale of cybercrime activity in our country and worldwide. We cannot fully comprehend the extent of cybercrimes and their impact on society. There is currently no reliable tool or method to determine the exact volume of cybercrime activity.

Approximately only 1 out of 100 cybercrime victims report to law enforcement agencies. This number may be even lower in Armenia due to distrust towards state institutions.

According to some estimates, the annual damage caused by cybercrimes at the global scale can reach an astronomical 9.5 trillion dollars.

Determining the total financial losses in Armenia caused by cybercrimes is difficult. Many victims are unaware that their losses were due to cybercrimes as they remain deceived for months. Criminal groups often convince victims that their cryptocurrency investments were lost due to their own mistakes or negligence. They may also falsely claim that the victims failed to pay taxes or did something wrong to justify the losses. As a result, many people are unaware that they have been defrauded for a long time. Furthermore, some victims may be hesitant to report the crime to law enforcement due to the fear of being punished as the criminals convince them that they are the ones who committed the crime and will be punished.

It is evident that our citizens lose tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars every year due to cybercrime. The situation is becoming progressively worse as numerous international cybercriminal gangs are targeting us.

Additionally, the local crime market is growing, and most crimes are committed using the pure Armenian language without the use of Google Translate and considering local realities.

We may not have precise information about the number of victims and the financial losses caused by cyber attacks. Still, we can observe an apparent increase in the number of visible attacks.

Considering only the malicious ads on social media and links shared through short messages, we can say that every Armenian resident is targeted by multiple attack attempts every week in the current situation.

It is uncertain how successful they are, but anyone can become a target without exception in the present circumstances. Furthermore, the target is subjected to continuous and varied attacks that attempt to break down the human defense system using various methods, such as tempting, deceiving, and confusing.

If we consider the fact that the country is rapidly moving towards digitization in both public and private sectors, it becomes evident that without taking serious measures to enhance public awareness and combat cybercrimes, we may face a severe catastrophe in no time.

Samvel Martirosyan 

The views expressed in the column are those of the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of Media.am.