Crypto Scam Losses In The US Skyrocket 22% Near $12 Billion, FBI Says

As the crypto market rallied by way of 2025 — led by a robust Bitcoin (BTC) ascent that pushed costs to recent all‑time highs within the fourth quarter — Americans additionally confronted a pointy rise in crypto‑associated scams, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reported in its 2025 Internet Crime Report.

Rising Fraud Concern

The FBI said US victims misplaced $11.4 billion to cryptocurrency fraud in 2025, a 22% improve from the prior 12 months. That determine relies on 181,565 complaints involving crypto belongings, itself up 21% 12 months‑over‑12 months. 

The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) logged 1,008,597 complaints in 2025, a rise from 859,532 in 2024. Phishing and spoofing, extortion, and funding schemes remained the criticism classes reported most frequently.

Older Americans suffered disproportionately massive losses. Complainants aged 60 and older reported roughly $7.7 billion in losses — a 37% rise over 2024 — reflecting persistent concentrating on of retirees and different seniors. 

Another rising menace is the usage of artificial intelligence (AI): for the primary time, the report consists of an AI part. The IC3 acquired 22,364 complaints tied to AI‑enabled scams in 2025, with reported losses approaching $893 million. 

Those schemes typically deploy high‑stress techniques whereas leveraging fabricated social profiles, voice cloning, counterfeit identification paperwork, and deceptively real looking movies of public figures or victims’ relations to influence targets at hand over funds.

California, Texas, Florida Lead In Crypto Complaints

The report additionally calls out fraud centered on cryptocurrency ATMs and kiosks. In 2025, there have been 13,460 complaints linked to crypto ATM use, leading to $389 million in losses — a 23% climb in complaints and a 58% bounce in greenback losses in contrast with 2024. 

By crime kind, funding schemes had been the commonest criticism class, with 61,559 filings. Extortion and phishing/spoofing had been additionally distinguished, with 23,797 and seven,164 complaints, respectively. 

The IC3 detailed a protracted listing of different fraud varieties reported in 2025, together with tech/customer support fraud, private information breaches, employment scams, and enterprise electronic mail compromise, amongst others.

Geographically, complaints had been concentrated in populous states. California led the nation with 20,878 crypto‑associated complaints, adopted by Texas (13,965), Florida (13,381), New York (8,088), and Pennsylvania (5,118). 

The FBI additionally outlined its enforcement and prevention efforts. Operation Level Up, launched in 2024, has been a proactive outreach initiative to determine and notify folks within the technique of falling sufferer to cryptocurrency funding fraud. 

Since this system started, greater than 8,000 potential victims have been alerted, and the operation has helped curtail losses by over $500 million. Building on that strategy, the FBI launched Operation Winter SHIELD in 2026 to emphasise actionable steps organizations can take to strengthen their cybersecurity posture.

Featured picture from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com