Americans reported $11.4 billion in losses tied to cryptocurrency scams last year, a 22% increase over 2024, according to an FBI report released on Tuesday. The findings highlight the growing scale of digital asset fraud, with the average damage per case reaching $62,604.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) noted that cryptocurrency investment scams are sophisticated, long-term operations. These schemes use psychological manipulation and the appearance of legitimacy to deceive victims into investing large sums of money. Most of these scams are perpetrated by organised criminal enterprises based in Southeast Asia, which often exploit human trafficking victims as forced labour to run the operations.
The report revealed a significant rise in the number of victims. In 2025, there were 181,565 complaints involving cryptocurrency, marking a 21% increase. Losses are heavily concentrated among those losing life-changing amounts; nearly 18,600 complainants lost more than $100,000 each, including savings and retirement funds.
Data from crypto analytics firm Chainalysis released in January showed that global losses to crypto scams and frauds reached $17 billion in 2025. Impersonation, exchange impostors, and AI-generated scams have gradually surpassed cyberattacks as the primary methods used to steal digital assets.
More broadly, cryptocurrency fraud is at the centre of a wider surge in online crime. Americans filed more than one million cybercrime complaints in 2025, with total losses exceeding $20.8 billion. The FBI described the situation as a rapidly evolving threat landscape where fraud and scams account for the overwhelming majority of financial damage.
