Losses to crypto fraud jumped 45% to $5.6 billion in 2023, FBI says

Americans lost more than $5.6 billion in cryptocurrency-related fraud scams in 2023, a 45% rise on the previous year, according to a FBI press release. While the number of cryptocurrency-related complaints to the FBI – 69,000 – accounted for just 10% of all financial fraud complaints last year, they represented 50% of total losses.

In 2023, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received more than 69,000 complaints from the public regarding financial fraud involving the use of cryptocurrency, such as bitcoin, ether, or tether.

„Estimated losses with a nexus to cryptocurrency totaled more than $5.6 billion. While the number of cryptocurrency-related complaints represents only about 10 percent of the total number of financial fraud complaints, the losses associated with these complaints account for almost 50 percent of the total losses.

Complaints filed in 2023 show that criminal actors exploit cryptocurrencies in each scheme category
tracked by IC3. The exploitation of cryptocurrency was most pervasive in investment scams, where
losses accounted for almost 71 percent of all losses related to cryptocurrency. Call center frauds,
including tech/customer support scams and government impersonation scams, accounted for about
10 percent of losses associated to cryptocurrency.” – said Michael D. Nordwall, Assistant Director Federal Bureau of Investigation – Criminal Investigative Division.

He added: „The decentralized nature of cryptocurrency, the speed of irreversible transactions, and the ability to transfer value around the world make cryptocurrency an attractive vehicle for criminals, while creating challenges to recover stolen funds. Once an individual sends a payment, the recipient owns the
cryptocurrency and often quickly transfers it into an account overseas for cash out purposes. Rapid
and accurate complaint reporting are key to assisting law enforcement in investigating fraud schemes
that exploit cryptocurrencies.”

The likes of bitcoin and ether are used in a host of frauds, although investment scams dominate, accounting for around $3.9 billion – of all crypto losses.

People over 60 filed the most complaints about crypto scams, reporting the most losses – over $1.6 billion. California saw nearly double the number of complaints of any other state.

More details here: FBI – Cryptocurrency Fraud Report 2023