FBI Reports $11 Billion Lost by Americans to Cryptocurrency Fraud in 2025
According to the FBI's yearly report on internet crime complaints, cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence fraud schemes ranked "among the costliest" throughout 2025, accounting for losses exceeding $11 billion.
According to a report from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), American citizens experienced losses exceeding $11 million from cryptocurrency-based fraud schemes throughout 2025.
The FBI's yearly internet crime complaint report, which was published on Monday, indicated that scams involving cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence were "among the costliest" experienced by American citizens during 2025, generating 181,565 complaints that totaled over $11 billion. The bureau disclosed that it processed over one million complaints throughout 2025 that documented losses of approximately $21 million stemming from cyber-enabled criminal activities.
According to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center, investment fraud schemes generated the largest proportion of victims who reported experiencing losses in cryptocurrency rather than traditional cash, debit cards, gift cards and alternative payment methods. Furthermore, approximately 10% of the 13,168 complaints concerning cybercrimes that targeted minors who were 17 years old and younger involved cryptocurrency or cryptocurrency ATMs, generating losses totaling more than $5 million.
The volume of complaints received by the FBI persisted despite the agency's initiatives to "identify and notify people who are currently falling victim to cryptocurrency investment fraud" via its Operation Level Up initiative launched in 2024. On a worldwide scale, Chainalysis, a blockchain analytics platform, disclosed in March that illicit addresses accumulated $154 billion throughout 2025, fueled partly by sanctions evasion activities.
Scammers use Tron blockchain token to con users using FBI
The FBI report revealed that there were 32,424 complaints related to impersonation of government officials, which generated approximately $800 million in losses. Nevertheless, the report failed to reference bureau officials releasing a March warning alerting Americans about a token operating on the Tron blockchain that was impersonating the FBI with the intention of harvesting personal information.
Users of the Tron network reported that they received a token displaying the FBI logo that claimed their wallet was "under investigation." These users were subsequently directed to provide personal information under the pretense of an FBI anti-money-laundering verification process to prevent their accounts from being frozen.