The FBI’s IC3 reports that U.S. residents lost over $9 billion in crypto scams in 2024, leading to a total of $16.6 billion in cyber-enabled crime losses, an alarming 33% increase from the previous year. Older individuals aged 60+ accounted for a significant share of these losses. The report highlights rising trends in investment scams and extortion tactics, alongside effective prevention measures that saved victims $285 million.
In a startling revelation, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) has disclosed that U.S. residents lost over $9 billion to crypto-related scams in 2024. This comes in their latest Internet Crime Report, marking the IC3’s 25th anniversary. The report highlights that overall complaints surged to 859,532, with total losses reaching a staggering $16.6 billion. The 33% rise in cyber-enabled crime losses from the previous year is alarming, to say the least.
As for crypto-specific losses, they have seen a staggering increase, up 66% compared to last year. The IC3 reported a grand total of 149,686 complaints about crypto scams alone. The demographic most affected tends to be older individuals aged 60 and above, who filed approximately 33,369 complaints—a dramatic 96% increase from the prior year. These victims collectively reported losses exceeding $2.84 billion, soaring by 71% year-on-year.
Other age groups weren’t spared either. Victims under 20 filed 1,819 complaints, losing $7.77 million. Meanwhile, complaints from the 20 to 29, 30 to 39, 40 to 49, and 50 to 59 brackets numbered 13,591, 22,218, 22,555, and 19,317, respectively—with reported losses of $370.44 million, $1 billion, $1.46 billion, and $1.18 billion separately.
Diving into specific fraud trends, the IC3 noted 41,557 complaints related to crypto investment scams, which translated to $5.81 billion lost—a staggering 47% increase from previous figures. Furthermore, there were 10,956 complaints tied to crypto ATMs and kiosks, resulting in losses of $246.7 million. Other categories like extortion led to about 54,936 complaints and $33.5 million lost in total in 2024.
Additional scams in the crypto space included various tactics like tech support fraud, employment scams, romance scams, government impersonation, and ransomware attacks, which caused losses of hundreds of millions across many complaints. The numbers were high: 11,129 complaints resulted in $962 million lost due to tech support scams alone.
The IC3’s efforts have seen some notable successes. Through their Operation Level Up initiative, they managed to alert 4,323 potential victims about ongoing scams, with 76% of them unaware they were being targeted. This intervention helped save individuals from losses approximating $285 million, showing an effective response amidst a troubling trend.
