FBI: $5.6B Lost to Crypto Fraud, 45% Increase Since 2023

[TomPluz]

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI’s) Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) latest report highlights the rise in cryptocurrency-related fraud, with estimated losses hitting $5.6 billion.

In a report, the FBI said, the IC3 received over 69,000 complaints involving financial crimes connected to cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Tether.

Although these cryptocurrency-related complaints comprised only 10% of all financial fraud reports, they accounted for nearly half of the total losses.

The agency reports a staggering 53% increase in losses was observed in cryptocurrency-linked investment fraud schemes, with total losses jumping from $2.57 billion in 2022 to $3.96 billion in 2023.

Individuals aged 30 to 49 filed the highest number cryptocurrency-investment fraud complaints, with about 5,200 reports in each of the 30-39 and 40-49 age groups. However, it was older individuals—those over the age of 60—who suffered the greatest financial losses, reporting more than $1.24 billion in total.

More of this news here.


With the continuing and very profitable attacks from scammers, hackers and fraudsters all around the cryptocurrency industry, I would not wonder if there comes a time when we will just shrug a news like this. The most important thing is to always be careful and never believe anybody's claims and promises especially those who are "too good to be true" as they are mostly frauds. These evil people are after what we have and they are usually so equipped with tools and experience to get what they wanted. Sadly and expectedly, older people are the easier prey to this deluge as they are less technologically-updated so if you are already in your advanced years and you are in crypto (just like me) you must be aware of the things you can do to safeguard your very own interest.

[hugeblack]

The report's result is biased, although scam in centralized systems is large, but due to the nature of these systems, the possibility of recovering coins is greater than cryptocurrencies, and the sector is not organized and there are not enough regulatory laws, so it is natural that there are enough cases of scam.

[Jating]

Regardless of the numbers, crypto enthusiast should really learn and educate ourselves so that we will not be the next victims of this attacks. We have seen rampant scams and phishing attacks, and the thing is that we know their modus already and yet there are still a lot of gullible crypto enthusiast who fell for this trick.

That's why I will say that our first weapon is education. We need to acquire knowledge so that we will not just be a victims. There are a lot of best methods as far as safety hygiene is, we just need to practice it.

[Stompix]

The report's result is biased, although scam in centralized systems is large, but due to the nature of these systems, the possibility of recovering coins is greater than cryptocurrencies, and the sector is not organized and there are not enough regulatory laws, so it is natural that there are enough cases of scam.

Depends a lot on how you look at those statistics, yes 5.6 billion in crypto in the US alone is well less than total fraud which is at $160 billion a year. But, Americans spend on food alone using fiat 2.6 trillion each year which is 600 billion more than the entire market cap of all tracked coins! Now, do you think Americans spend 70 billion each year buying food with crypto to have the same usage percentages? 

With the continuing and very profitable attacks from scammers, hackers and fraudsters all around the cryptocurrency industry, I would not wonder if there comes a time when we will just shrug a news like this.

We're already at that point, hundreds of scams happen and we just get over it, I see reports of fake cloud mining, ponzi schemes, and other websites every day and my only thought is why are scammers still building those websites, doesn't everyone on this planet already know those are scams?

[Z-tight]

From the report, those 60 and above were the highest victims, i guess many old people are not familiar with crypto, nor how crypto scammers operate, and that is why those in that age bracket suffered the most financial losses.

I feel sorry for people who lose their money to scammers, be it crypto or fiat scam, but to be honest, some of the tricks scammers use should be easy to identify, but, yeah.

[MrSpasybo]

With the continuing and very profitable attacks from scammers, hackers and fraudsters all around the cryptocurrency industry, I would not wonder if there comes a time when we will just shrug a news like this. The most important thing is to always be careful and never believe anybody's claims and promises especially those who are "too good to be true" as they are mostly frauds. These evil people are after what we have and they are usually so equipped with tools and experience to get what they wanted. Sadly and expectedly, older people are the easier prey to this deluge as they are less technologically-updated so if you are already in your advanced years and you are in crypto (just like me) you must be aware of the things you can do to safeguard your very own interest.

I’m not surprised by this report, given that we’ve seen an impressive recovery in the crypto market, outperforming all other markets in the economy. This has been accompanied by FOMO and the entry of many inexperienced retail F0 investors, who are easy targets for seasoned crypto hackers.

Reports like these continue to serve as a warning about the dangers of the crypto market, especially for investors whose greed outweighs their knowledge. The value of scams will continue to rise during bullrun when we experience more insane price increases, greater FOMO, and more retail F0 investors. I hope that we will have a safer crypto market over time, especially as investors accumulate enough knowledge and experience from the vast amount of free crypto information available on the internet.

[Baofeng]

From the report, those 60 and above were the highest victims, i guess many old people are not familiar with crypto, nor how crypto scammers operate, and that is why those in that age bracket suffered the most financial losses.

I feel sorry for people who lose their money to scammers, be it crypto or fiat scam, but to be honest, some of the tricks scammers use should be easy to identify, but, yeah.

Fiat scam though is more prevalent that crypto in my opinion, it's even well documented in Youtube as they are chasing a group of scammers in certain countries. Yes, it's one and the same scam tricks being pulled by this criminals, however, there are still people who really or can't identify a scam and what's real and probably this is due to their old age.

And for crypto, we all know how organized this hackers or criminals are. And I do not think that it will slow down, on the contrary, the attacks could increase as we enter the next year as we expect a massive increase in price. So just be cautious and educate ourselves.

[Captain Corporate]

And this seems to be mainly due to having a little bit of hype during this time as well. I am not saying that its the only reason, we just need to remember that yearly low is 24k, yearly high is 75k, that is x3 times higher than what we normally have. Which is why I think its quite important to remember that we are going to see this changing the whole thing, and that's why its quite important for sure. I am not saying that we are going to see this making a big deal for now, whenever there is a hype and a bull run the amount of fraud increases, its a known thing and will continue to exist for a long time.

[Gurujebs]

With the continuing and very profitable attacks from scammers, hackers and fraudsters all around the cryptocurrency industry, I would not wonder if there comes a time when we will just shrug a news like this. The most important thing is to always be careful and never believe anybody's claims and promises especially those who are "too good to be true" as they are mostly frauds. These evil people are after what we have and they are usually so equipped with tools and experience to get what they wanted. Sadly and expectedly, older people are the easier prey to this deluge as they are less technologically-updated so if you are already in your advanced years and you are in crypto (just like me) you must be aware of the things you can do to safeguard your very own interest.

Crypto this and that just stay relevance. Alright, accepted that scammers are around crypto but when are they going to tell people how fiats are been use for terrorism and all kinds of atrocious things since when Bitcoin hasn't been created. Money has been there for many years and FBI has also been there but they don't release such forensics investigations.

The truth is that scammers are everywhere, every corner where there is money involved and crypto just happened to be one of their easiest place since it's not regulated but it doesn't mean crypto loos shitty as they portray everytime.

[Z-tight]

And I do not think that it will slow down, on the contrary, the attacks could increase as we enter the next year as we expect a massive increase in price. So just be cautious and educate ourselves.

Yeah, a serious pump in price leads to more greedy people who want to double their money, weak hands who do not want to miss out and generally more vulnerable people to scammers.

It is crazy how these scammers use even the most easy to spot method to scam people regularly, i wish more people would join crypto forums like this, to learn a thing or two on how to avoid losing their money.

[TomPluz]

From the report, those 60 and above were the highest victims, I guess many old people are not familiar with crypto, nor how crypto scammers operate, and that is why those in that age bracket suffered the most financial losses.

Very sad indeed to see many seniors who are getting victimized much easier by scammers and this is actually so true whether we are talking on crypto-based scams or not. And it can be because those people are not anymore updated with things going on online and offline and maybe also because they can be more trusting compared to those in younger generations. Watching YouTube, there are so many horrendous stories of old people whose savings were decimated by scammers. I think there should be an education program for the seniors for them to avoid scams of all kinds and to never open up to strangers online.

[hugeblack]

doesn't everyone on this planet already know those are scams?

Where do you get the information from is what makes you believe such a scam, those who deal with the cryptocurrency market take their advice from people on Instagram or Twitter, most of them are scammers with fake accounts, this is how people are easily scammed.

It is crazy how these scammers use even the most easy to spot method to scam people regularly, i wish more people would join crypto forums like this, to learn a thing or two on how to avoid losing their money.

The chance of losing your money in small scam projects is low, but what I fear most is bridges, centralized exchanges and stablecoins, their collapse will affect many.

[Bobcrypto]

It is very obvious that so many people have become a victim of one crypto scam or another, unfortunately, the vast majority of the victims are found in crypto investments options all over the internet. A lot of the advertisements are found on many social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc, and one of the disappointing facts of these crypto scams are cause by inability of some investors to be  watchful, or carry out some research before investing.
Honestly, the biggest sector that has been affected by scammers on the crypto economy is the ICO/IDO sales. Many investors has suffered different forms of scams on different new start up projects, and it seems that more are still falling on their traps everyday. I have been scammed once through ICO presales on a certain website but I have learnt my lessons.

[NotATether]

From the report, those 60 and above were the highest victims, i guess many old people are not familiar with crypto, nor how crypto scammers operate, and that is why those in that age bracket suffered the most financial losses.

So in this case, the figures for crypto fraud do not only include people who had lost their crypto, but also people who were told by scammers to convert their money into crypto and send it to them. I.e. 5.6 billion dollars in scams.

Or maybe it's just this latter group that's counted in the figure.

Because we've been through a bearish season for most of the year, so I fail to see how theft would've went up by 45% from last year when less pepole are using it.

[Dr.Bitcoin_Strange]

I believe that the reason why there is high rise of cryoto fraud and also high value of the amount lost is because the total number of cryoto enthusiast and investors have also grown so big compare to years back and the reason why so many people are falling into this frauds is because they rush into cryoto when they are not fully oriented about the risk, some of people also want to make abrupt money that's why they rush into cryoto and end up being scammed. If everyone trade with caution and also make sure they are fully oriented about cryoto investment, only a few people will fall such victim.