In 2025, U.S. citizens lost $80.7 billion to cryptocurrency fraud, according to the Consumer Federation of America (CFA).
The estimate is based on data from the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). Last year, IC3 recorded 181,565 complaints involving cryptocurrencies. The reported losses amounted to $11.37 billion, a 22% increase from 2024.
Cryptocurrencies accounted for more than half of all losses reported to IC3.
CFA multiplied the reported losses by a factor of 7.1, citing underreporting. According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics in 2017, only about 14% of financial fraud victims report incidents to the police.
IC3 received 1,008,597 complaints for all types of internet crimes, with reported losses totaling $20.88 billion. CFA estimated the total losses from online scams and internet crimes at $148.2 billion, or $1,009 per household.
Investment fraud was the largest category by reported losses to IC3, with losses amounting to approximately $8.6 billion in 2025. The total was estimated at $61.4 billion after applying the 7.1 factor.
In a separate section on cryptocurrencies, the FBI reported 61,559 complaints about crypto investment fraud, with reported losses reaching $7.23 billion. Individuals over 60 filed 44,555 complaints involving cryptocurrencies, with reported losses of $4.43 billion—nearly 39% of all crypto losses recorded by IC3.
This age group also suffered the largest losses across all types of internet crimes, totaling $7.75 billion. The average reported loss was $38,500 per complaint.
IC3 separately accounted for crimes involving AI for the first time. In 2025, the FBI recorded 22,364 such complaints with reported losses of $893.3 million. CFA recalculated this to an estimated loss of $6.3 billion.
According to the FBI, criminals use artificial intelligence to create fake social media profiles, clone voices, and produce fake documents and videos featuring public figures or victims’ relatives.
The IC3 report also describes the FBI’s initiative against crypto investment fraud, Operation Level Up, launched in early 2024. Since then, the operation has helped notify over 8,000 potential victims and prevent more than $500 million in losses. In 2025, the figures were 3,780 individuals and $225.9 million in potential losses, respectively.
Earlier, in May, the FBI announced the seizure of over 127,000 BTC worth about $8 billion as part of the international Operation Blackout against scam centers and related networks.
