As the cryptocurrency market surges through 2025 — led by a strong rise in Bitcoin (BTC) that pushed prices to all-time highs in the fourth quarter — Americans also faced a sharp rise in cryptocurrency-related scams, the FBI said in its 2025 Internet Crime Report.
Growing fears of fraud
FBI He said US victims lost $11.4 billion to cryptocurrency fraud in 2025, a 22% increase from the previous year. This figure is based on 181,565 complaints related to crypto assets, which represents a 21% increase year-on-year.
The Internet Crime Complaints Center (IC3) recorded 1,008,597 complaints in 2025, up from 859,532 in 2024. Phishing, spoofing, extortion and investment schemes remained the categories of complaints most often reported.
Older Americans suffered disproportionately large losses. Complainants ages 60 and older reported losses of nearly $7.7 billion — a 37% increase from 2024 — reflecting the continued targeting of retirees and other seniors.
Another growing threat is the use of artificial intelligence (Artificial Intelligence): For the first time, the report includes a section on artificial intelligence. IC3 received 22,364 complaints related to AI-powered fraud in 2025, with reported losses approaching $893 million.
These schemes often use high-pressure tactics while leveraging fabricated social profiles, audio clones, fake identity documents, and deceptive real-life videos of public figures or relatives of victims to convince targets to hand over money.
California, Texas, and Florida top complaints related to cryptocurrencies
The report also points out fraud centered around cryptocurrencies ATMs and kiosks. In 2025, there were 13,460 complaints related to the use of crypto ATMs, resulting in losses of $389 million – a 23% rise in complaints and a 58% jump in dollar losses compared to 2024.
By type of crime, investment plans were the most common complaint category, with 61,559 complaints. Cases of extortion and phishing/spoofing were also prominent, with 23,797 and 7,164 complaints respectively.
IC3 has detailed a long list of other types of fraud reported in 2025, including Technology/customer support fraudpersonal data breaches, employment fraud, and commercial email compromise, among others.
Geographically, complaints were concentrated in densely populated states. California led the country with 20,878 cryptocurrency-related complaints, followed by Texas (13,965), Florida (13,381), New York (8,088), and Pennsylvania (5,118).
The FBI also clarified its enforcement and prevention efforts. Operation Level Up, launched in 2024, was a proactive outreach initiative to identify and notify people who fall victim to cryptocurrency investment fraud.
Since the program began, more than 8,000 potential victims have been alerted, and the operation has helped Limit losses More than $500 million. Building on this approach, the FBI launched Operation Winter SHIELD in 2026 to emphasize practical steps organizations can take to strengthen their cybersecurity posture.
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