- The FBI's IC3 reported a sharp increase in crypto -related scams in 2024, estimating nearly $ 9.3 billion losses.
- The most affected people because of the scams are those in the age of 60, worth $ 2.8 billion in losses.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation's The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) released its annual report on April 23. The report was primarily focused on complaints and frauds in the crypto sector and losses that occurred in 2024.
As per the report, more than 140,000 complaints were registered in 2024, estimating nearly $ 9.3 billion in losses. The most affected age group due to the fraud and scam of crypto are people at 60 years of age.
The age group registered around 33,000 complaints worth $ 2.8 billion in losses. An increase of 66% in losses compared to last year from $ 5.6 billion to $ 9.3 billion was witnessed in 2024.
A large portion of the losses are driven by crypto investment schemes, and the largest number of complaints is associated with extortion schemes. Under these schemes, scammers manipulate photos and videos to produce explicit content. In addition, scams are associated with the use of crypto ATMs and kiosks.
The number of complaints has increased significantly since 2017. Most complaints (around 19,508) are registered in California, worth $ 1.39 billion.
The Crypto Fraud Soars in 2024, predicted AI to worsen scams in 2025
In February 2025, the FBI announced that its level of operation was saving many crypto fraud victims of around $ 285 million between the duration of one year from January 2024 to January 2025.
In this regard, chainalysis, a blockchain analytics firm, predicted 2025 to see more scams compared to any year. The reason for driving the numbers is the generative AI, which makes the fraud more scalable and cheap.
Chainalysis Further estimated the prohibited volume of crypto in 2024 stood around $ 41 billion worldwide. Around 25% of the capital includes hacking, oppression, trafficking or scam.
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