Cryptocurrency Scams Account for Over Half of $80.7 Billion in Estimated Losses

Cryptocurrency accounted for more than half of all scam and cybercrime losses, according to a new report by the Consumer Federation of America that put estimated losses at $80.7 billion. The association of non-profit consumer groups based its findings on FBI figures that put the cost of crypto scams reported to the agency at $11.37 billion last year, up 22% on 2024. The CFA’s figure applies a multiple from a 2017 Bureau of Justice Statistics survey, which found that only 14% of fraud victims report to law enforcement. CFA applies the resulting 7.1x multiplier to every figure in its report and describes it as conservative.

Ari Redbord, global head of policy at TRM Labs, told Decrypt in April that the FBI's number was "an important benchmark" that "captures only part of the picture," working from a similar assumption that around 15% of victims report. Investment fraud was the largest single category, with $8.6 billion reported and $61.4 billion estimated, up 32% on 2024. Across all categories, the FBI's complaint center logged 1,008,597 complaints and $20.9 billion in reported losses, a 26% rise, which CFA scales to $148.2 billion, or $1,009 per household. Americans over 60 lost $4.4 billion to crypto fraud alone, nearly 40% of the total. The FBI counted AI-enabled crime separately for the first time, logging $893 million across 22,364 complaints.

The cases behind the numbers Enforcement against those networks runs from warning targets to seizing proceeds. The FBI says its Operation Level Up, which contacts people before they pay, has notified 8,000 victims and prevented $500 million in losses, including $225.9 million last year. The figure includes cases involving both domestic and international fraudsters. Last year, an Oklahoma man was sentenced to five years over a $9.4 million crypto Ponzi scheme, while overseas fraudsters have become a particular focus for U.S. law enforcement, with a Scam Center Task Force established last year seizing some $25 million from fraudulent crypto investment platforms and online romance schemes. The Justice Department moved to forfeit 127,271 Bitcoin, then worth $15 billion, from Prince Group chairman Chen Zhi over forced-labor scam compounds in Cambodia, the largest forfeiture action in its history. Prince Group has denied involvement in scam operations.