Crypto investment fraud in the United States surged alongside the bull market, with losses climbing to nearly 12 billion dollars in 2025, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s latest Internet Crime Report. While Bitcoin and other digital assets broke new price records in the fourth quarter, criminals exploited the hype and inexperience of new investors on an unprecedented scale.
The FBI estimates that US victims collectively lost 11.4 billion dollars to cryptocurrency‑related fraud in 2025. That represents a 22% jump compared with 2024 and is based on 181,565 complaints involving digital assets, themselves up 21% year‑over‑year. In other words, both the volume of incidents and the financial damage are accelerating together.
Overall, the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received 1,008,597 complaints across all cybercrime categories in 2025, up from 859,532 in 2024. Traditional online threats continued to dominate the statistics: phishing and spoofing, extortion, and investment scams remained the most frequently reported issues. However, within this landscape, crypto fraud stands out for the speed at which losses are growing.
One of the most troubling findings is how hard older Americans are being hit. People aged 60 and above reported around 7.7 billion dollars in losses in 2025, a staggering 37% increase from the previous year. This suggests scammers are deliberately targeting retirees and seniors, who often have accumulated savings but may be less familiar with how digital assets and online financial tools work.
Many of these senior‑focused scams take the form of “too good to be true” investment offers, romance scams that transition into investment pitches, or tech support hoaxes that culminate in the victim being instructed to transfer funds into crypto “for safety.” The emotional pressure and urgency used in these interactions are designed to override skepticism, especially for people not used to the tempo and style of digital‑first communication.
A major emerging threat identified in the report is the rapid integration of artificial intelligence into scam operations. For the first time, the FBI introduced a dedicated AI section in its Internet Crime Report. In 2025 alone, the IC3 recorded 22,364 complaints linked to AI‑enabled schemes, with reported losses nearing 893 million dollars.
These AI‑driven scams leverage sophisticated tools to create persuasive illusions. Criminals are using:
– Fabricated but convincing social media profiles
– Voice cloning to mimic relatives, colleagues, or officials
– Falsified identity documents
– Hyper‑realistic videos that appear to show public figures or loved ones endorsing investment platforms or pleading for urgent help
By combining these techniques with high‑pressure tactics and tight deadlines, scammers make it incredibly difficult for victims to pause and verify what they are seeing and hearing.
The FBI report also highlights the growing abuse of cryptocurrency ATMs and kiosks. In 2025, there were 13,460 complaints specifically related to crypto ATM use, resulting in 389 million dollars in disclosed losses. That marks a 23% rise in complaints and a dramatic 58% leap in total losses compared with 2024.
Crypto ATMs are especially attractive to fraudsters because they allow relatively fast, often irreversible transfers. Victims are commonly instructed over the phone or online to withdraw cash from their bank and then feed it into a crypto ATM to purchase cryptocurrency, which is then sent to the scammer’s wallet. The physical, in‑person nature of the transaction can give victims a misleading sense of legitimacy, even though the recipient is entirely anonymous.
When broken down by crime type, investment schemes remained the dominant category in 2025, with 61,559 reports filed. Extortion followed with 23,797 complaints, while phishing and spoofing generated 7,164 complaints. While these categories overlap with other online crimes, they are often closely intertwined with crypto‑related fraud, especially when scammers present cryptocurrency as a modern, high‑yield investment solution or a supposedly “untraceable” way to pay off threats.
Beyond these primary categories, the IC3 logged a wide spectrum of additional fraud patterns, including tech and customer support scams, personal data breaches, fake job offers, and business email compromise. These schemes frequently converge on a single outcome: persuading the victim to authorize a transfer of funds, increasingly via digital assets, where recovery is difficult to impossible once the transaction has been confirmed.
Geographically, the majority of crypto‑related complaints came from the largest US states by population, underscoring how dense urban areas and heavily online communities are prime hunting grounds for fraudsters. California topped the list with 20,878 crypto‑related complaints. Texas followed with 13,965 cases, then Florida with 13,381, New York with 8,088, and Pennsylvania with 5,118. These numbers likely reflect both greater adoption of cryptocurrency and wider exposure to digital advertising and social media campaigns, where many scams originate.
On the enforcement and prevention front, the FBI has tried to move beyond after‑the‑fact investigations into more proactive intervention. Operation Level Up, launched in 2024, was designed to identify individuals who appear to be in the process of being defrauded in cryptocurrency investment schemes and warn them before they complete a transaction. Using patterns in reports, transaction monitoring, and cooperation with financial institutions, the initiative aims to break scams mid‑stream.
According to the FBI, more than 8,000 potential victims have been contacted since Operation Level Up began. These early warnings are estimated to have prevented more than 500 million dollars in additional losses. Encouraged by those results, the bureau expanded its prevention strategy with Operation Winter SHIELD in 2026, which focuses on helping organizations harden their cybersecurity defenses and protect their customers and employees from digital fraud, including crypto‑related schemes.
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Why Crypto Scams Are Growing So Fast
The sharp rise in crypto scam losses is not occurring in a vacuum. Several structural trends are fueling the problem:
1. Mainstream adoption of crypto
More retail investors than ever are opening exchange accounts, using trading apps, and exploring DeFi platforms. Many are newcomers, attracted by price rallies, social media hype, and stories of life‑changing profits. This mix of curiosity and inexperience creates ideal conditions for fraud.
2. Pseudonymity and irreversibility
Cryptocurrency transactions are hard to reverse and often routed through multiple wallets or cross‑chain bridges, making asset tracing more complex. While not truly anonymous, the pseudonymous nature of blockchain addresses gives scammers a head start over law enforcement and victims.
3. Social media and messaging apps
Fraudsters increasingly operate through direct messages, group chats, and fake “trading communities.” They build trust over weeks or months before pitching “exclusive” investment opportunities, often including screenshots of fabricated profits and forged account dashboards.
4. Global reach and low entry barriers
A single scam operation can target thousands of people across multiple countries, using the same scripts and templates. The availability of ready‑made scam kits, phishing tools, and AI‑generated content dramatically lowers the skill level required to run convincing fraud schemes.
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The Tactics Scammers Use To Steal Crypto
Recent cases show a recurring set of techniques across many of the fraud categories mentioned by the FBI:
– Pig‑butchering scams
Scammers build long‑term relationships with victims, often through dating apps or messaging platforms, and gradually introduce them to “secret” or “VIP” crypto investments. Victims may be allowed to withdraw small, early “profits” to build trust, before being pushed to deposit larger sums that are ultimately stolen.
– Impersonation of legitimate platforms or officials
Fake websites and apps imitate well‑known exchanges, wallets, or government entities. Victims think they are logging into a reputable service, but in reality, they are handing over credentials directly to criminals.
– Tech support and recovery scams
After being hacked or scammed, victims are contacted by people claiming to be “recovery experts” or officials who can help them get their funds back-for a fee. Instead of assisting, they extract more money or data.
– AI‑enhanced deepfakes and cloned voices
With improved generative tools, scammers can now produce short, credible videos of public figures or use voice cloning to sound like a family member in distress. These deepfakes are used to validate bogus investment platforms or to create fake emergencies requiring immediate crypto transfers.
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How Individuals Can Protect Themselves
Against this backdrop, self‑defense becomes critical. While no strategy is foolproof, several measures can drastically reduce the chance of becoming a victim:
1. Be skeptical of unsolicited investment offers
Any message promising guaranteed returns, secret strategies, or risk‑free profits in crypto is a red flag. Genuine investments carry risk and never need immediate, irreversible transfers.
2. Verify, then verify again
Before sending funds or entering account information, independently confirm website addresses, contact details, and identities. Use known, official channels rather than links sent via email, text, or private messages.
3. Never act under pressure
Scammers rely on urgency-countdowns, “limited slots,” or threats of legal action. Legitimate institutions do not demand instant decisions or payments in cryptocurrency.
4. Use strong security practices
Enable two‑factor authentication on all financial accounts, secure private keys in hardware wallets or other offline methods, and avoid sharing screenshots or sensitive details of your holdings online.
5. Treat crypto ATMs with extreme caution
If someone instructs you to use a crypto ATM to “secure your money” or pay a fine, assume it is a scam. Government agencies and legitimate companies do not request payment through cryptocurrency kiosks.
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Protecting Older Relatives And Vulnerable Users
Given the disproportionate impact on people over 60, families and caregivers can play a crucial preventive role:
– Talk openly with older relatives about common scam patterns, especially romance and tech support fraud.
– Encourage them to check with a trusted family member before sending large sums or using crypto ATMs.
– Help them set up banking and device alerts for unusual activity.
– Remind them that no legitimate authority will threaten arrest or legal trouble over the phone and demand payment in crypto.
These conversations can be uncomfortable, but they often make the difference between skepticism and blind trust when a fraudulent call or message arrives.
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What Businesses And Institutions Should Do
Organizations also need to adapt to the new fraud landscape:
– Financial institutions and exchanges can strengthen transaction monitoring, introduce cooling‑off periods for first‑time crypto purchases, and send real‑time warnings when transfers match known scam patterns.
– Employers can train staff on recognizing phishing, business email compromise, and fake invoice schemes that attempt to reroute payments into crypto wallets controlled by criminals.
– Schools and universities can incorporate digital finance and fraud awareness into curricula, so younger users learn to recognize the signs of manipulation before they start investing.
By building security awareness into daily operations, institutions can reduce both direct financial losses and the reputational damage that comes when customers are victimized.
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The Road Ahead: Innovation Versus Exploitation
The rise in crypto scam losses does not mean digital assets are inherently fraudulent, but it does highlight how quickly criminals adapt to new technologies and narratives. As artificial intelligence becomes more capable, the line between real and fake will continue to blur, making traditional “visual checks” and gut instinct less reliable.
Regulators, law enforcement agencies, and the crypto industry itself will need to coordinate more closely-sharing data on known bad actors, standardizing reporting channels, and designing user interfaces that make risk more transparent. At the same time, individuals must approach every unsolicited opportunity with caution, recognizing that in an era of high‑tech deception, skepticism is not cynicism but a basic survival skill.
The FBI’s latest numbers send a clear message: as digital assets become part of everyday finance, crypto literacy and fraud awareness are no longer optional. They are as essential as understanding interest rates, credit scores, or passwords-and for many, they may be the only barrier standing between savings and a sophisticated global scam operation.