Crypto Fraud Runs Rampant, Americans Lost $5.6 Billion Last Year To Scams

The FBI has published its Cryptocurrency Fraud Report for 2023, and the losses continue to mount, reaching 5.6 billion dollars, which is a 45% increase in comparison to 2022. Even though fraudulent cryptocurrency schemes only account for 10% of the complaints the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) receives, the losses from these reports amount to a staggering 50% of the total revenue.

The bulk of the fraud committed involved investment scams, which accounted for 71% of the reports received by the IC3. These kinds of scams often promise healthy returns with little risk involved, which lures in victims. Other themes used by threat actors include tech support or customer support with call centers setup for this kind of work, alongside impersonating government officials or organizations.


While the complaints lobbied to the IC3 come from individuals across the age spectrum, it does seem that a majority are from those over the age of 60, with this group seeing losses of about $1.24 billion dollars. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to determine if it’s from this age group being at greater risk of being targeted, or them being more likely to report these kinds of crimes to the IC3.

Unfortunately, victims can end up being defrauded multiple times under some schemes. Threat actors often pose as business that promise to help victims recover stolen cryptocurrency funds, typically using social media to reach out. It will typically involve charging an up-front fee, which will be followed up with a bogus “tracing report” or simply cutting off communications with the victim.

This report is a reminder of the need to be mindful when online. If something sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Especially since cryptocurrency’s decentralized nature make it an attractive proposition for criminals.