According to the latest report from security company Symantec, cybercrime cost customers across the world nearly $110 billion in 2011. For the US alone, consumers lost $20.7 billion in the twelve-month period, which saw 71 million Americans finding themselves victims to cybercrime.

An average of $197 in direct financial loss to each victim across the world, with US losses per victim tallying up to $290. The report states that a whopping 556 million adults across Earth had found themselves experiencing first-hand experience of cybercrime in 2011.

This figure of 556 million people affected, is nearly half of all adults on the Internet, which is staggering, and is also up 45% from 2010. The reason for the increase in cybercrime and affected consumers, is the meteoric rise in social network and mobile use. 21% of online adults report that they have been victims to social- or mobile-based crime. The report also states that 15% of Internet users have had their social networking account hacked, with 1 in 10 users falling victim to fake links or scams through Facebook.

The study was conducted from 13,000 participants spanning 24 countries.