Statistics · 2026 · Crypto
Crypto Scam Statistics (2026)
Americans reported $11.366 billion in cryptocurrency-related fraud losses to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) in 2025, across 181,565 complaints, according to IC3’s 2025 Internet Crime Report. That is 22% more than in 2024. Investment fraud accounts for most of it, and people 60 and older reported the largest losses. These are complaint-based figures: they show reported harm, not the full amount lost to fraud.
Key takeaways
- IC3 logged 181,565 crypto-related complaints and $11.366 billion in reported losses in 2025, up 21% and 22% from 2024.
- Crypto investment fraud was the largest scheme, with 61,559 complaints and about $7.2 billion in reported losses.
- People 60 and older reported $4.43 billion of the $9.30 billion in losses tied to a stated age, 48% (WealthyBud’s calculation).
- IC3’s crypto-related losses were about 2.0 times its 2023 figure of more than $5.6 billion (WealthyBud’s calculation).
- The FTC’s 2024 Data Book shows $1.417 billion in fraud losses paid by cryptocurrency, second to bank transfers at $2.089 billion.
How much money do Americans lose to crypto scams?
IC3 recorded $11.366 billion in losses from 181,565 complaints that referenced cryptocurrency in 2025, about 54% of the $20.877 billion in all losses reported to IC3 (WealthyBud’s calculation). The FTC counts differently: it tallies the payment method on consumer fraud reports, not crypto scams as a category.
1. IC3 received 1,008,597 complaints and $20.877 billion in reported losses in 2025
IC3’s 2025 Internet Crime Report (file dated April 2026) puts reported losses at $20.877 billion, 26% above 2024. Every figure here is a reported loss.
2. 181,565 IC3 complaints referenced cryptocurrency, with $11.366 billion in losses
IC3 reports a 21% rise in complaints and a 22% rise in losses from 2024, an average loss of $62,604, and 18,589 complainants who lost more than $100,000 (2025 report, p. 52). IC3’s definition: “Information reported contains some reference to virtual currency.”
3. Crypto-related complaints equal about 54% of IC3’s total reported losses
$11.366 billion divided by $20.877 billion (WealthyBud’s calculation). IC3 adds cryptocurrency as a descriptor on top of one crime type per complaint, so crypto losses overlap with crime-type totals such as investment fraud.
4. FTC: consumers reported $15.9 billion in fraud losses in 2025, including over $7.9 billion to investment scams
In testimony to the Joint Economic Committee on March 25, 2026, the FTC said these reported losses “are just a fraction of American consumers’ actual losses.”
What are the most common crypto scams?
Investment fraud is the largest crypto scheme in IC3 data, with 61,559 complaints and about $7.2 billion in 2025 losses. Tech and customer support scams, personal data breaches, romance scams, employment fraud and government impersonation follow. IC3 says crypto investment scams are long-term schemes that build trust first.
5. Crypto investment fraud: 61,559 complaints and about $7.2 billion in reported losses
IC3 reports complaints up 48% and losses up 25% from 2024 (2025 report, p. 53). It lists $7.228 billion in its trends panel and $7.278 billion in its crime-type table. IC3 defines investment fraud as a “deceptive practice that induces investors to make purchases based on false information.”
6. IC3 describes crypto investment scams as long-term, trust-based schemes
They use “psychological manipulation, the appearance of legitimacy, and exploitation of cryptocurrencies.” The 2024 report calls this fraud “also known as ‘pig butchering.’”
7. Crypto ATM and kiosk scams: 13,460 complaints and $389 million in 2025
IC3 reports complaints up 23% and losses up 58% from 2024 (2025 report, p. 53). The FTC says BTM fraud losses rose nearly tenfold from 2020 to 2023 (Data Spotlight, September 2024).
8. Recovery scams: 10,516 complaints and $1.4 billion in reported losses
IC3 notes these losses “may also include losses experienced from previous scams” (2025 report, p. 53), so they partly overlap with other schemes.
In IC3’s 2025 crime-type table, the largest crypto-related losses by scheme were:
- Investment fraud caused $7,277,868,919 in crypto-related losses.
- Tech and customer support scams caused $1,226,298,080.
- Personal data breaches caused $939,398,686 in crypto-related losses.
- Confidence and romance fraud caused $394,787,515 in crypto-related losses.
- Employment fraud caused $288,199,807 and government impersonation caused $281,146,737.
Track the top cryptocurrencies by market cap
Who loses the most to crypto fraud?
People 60 and older reported the most: 44,555 complaints and $4.43 billion in crypto-related losses in 2025, 48% of the losses from complainants who gave an age range (WealthyBud’s calculation). Not every complainant states an age, so these shares cover 82% of crypto complaints.
| Age range | Complaints | Reported loss | Average per complaint |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 20 | 3,508 | $26,955,462 | $7,684 |
| 20–29 | 18,107 | $288,875,060 | $15,954 |
| 30–39 | 27,598 | $861,551,625 | $31,218 |
| 40–49 | 29,749 | $1,552,700,119 | $52,193 |
| 50–59 | 25,453 | $2,139,033,232 | $84,039 |
| 60+ | 44,555 | $4,432,224,488 | $99,478 |
| Total with an age range | 148,970 | $9,301,339,986 | $62,438 |
Source: IC3 2025 Internet Crime Report, p. 52. IC3 says complainants “are not required to provide an age range” and those without one “are excluded from tables depicting age ranges.” It covers 82% of crypto-related complaints and 82% of losses (WealthyBud’s calculation).
9. People 60+ reported $4.43 billion in crypto-related losses, 48% of the age-reported total
Their 44,555 complaints are 30% of age-reported complaints, and their average loss per complaint is about $99,500 (WealthyBud’s calculations from the table above).
10. Crypto investment fraud cost people 60+ $2.76 billion; those 50–59 lost $1.38 billion
IC3 lists these by age group (2025 report, p. 53). Complaints without an age are left out of these groups.
11. Crypto ATM losses concentrate among older adults: 60+ reported $257 million of $389 million
IC3 counts 6,188 of the 13,460 crypto ATM complaints in the 60+ group (2025 report, p. 53). The FTC found people 60 and over “more than three times as likely as younger adults to report a loss using a BTM” in the first half of 2024.
12. FTC: younger adults report losing money more often; older adults report larger losses
Among people who gave their age in 2024, those aged 20–29 reported losing money in 44% of their fraud reports, versus 21% for those 80 and over (FTC Data Book 2024, p. 4). This covers all fraud, not only crypto.
How have crypto fraud losses changed?
IC3's crypto series is not consistent before 2023, so only the last three years are comparable. IC3 puts crypto-related losses at more than $5.6 billion in 2023, $9.3 billion in 2024 and $11.366 billion in 2025, about 2.0 times the 2023 level (WealthyBud’s calculation). IC3’s total reported losses grew from $6.9 billion in 2021 to $20.877 billion in 2025.
| Year | Report | All reported losses | Crypto-related losses | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2021 Internet Crime Report | More than $6.9 billion | $1,602,647,341 | “Virtual Currency” descriptor |
| 2022 | 2022 Internet Crime Report | More than $10.2 billion | $2,496,196,530 | “Cryptocurrency” descriptor |
| 2023 | 2023 Cryptocurrency Fraud Report | More than $12.5 billion* | More than $5.6 billion | Annual report descriptor: $3,809,090,856 (43,653 complaints) |
| 2024 | 2024 Internet Crime Report | $16.6 billion | $9.3 billion | IC3: 66% increase in losses |
| 2025 | 2025 Internet Crime Report | $20.877 billion | $11.366 billion | IC3: 22% increase in losses |
*The 2023 total comes from the 2023 Internet Crime Report. The 2023 crypto rows count different things. The annual report’s “Cryptocurrency” descriptor covers 43,653 complaints and $3,809,090,856, and IC3 says descriptors “relate to the medium or tool used to facilitate the crime.” The Cryptocurrency Fraud Report counts “more than 69,000 complaints from the public regarding financial fraud involving the use of cryptocurrency” and says “estimated losses with a nexus to cryptocurrency totaled more than $5.6 billion.” The 2021 and 2022 rows use annual-report descriptors, so they are not comparable with 2023–2025 and no growth rate is computed from them. IC3 says its statistics are “an assessment taken at a point in time.”
13. IC3 total reported losses were about 3.0 times higher in 2025 than in 2021
$20.877 billion in the 2025 report versus more than $6.9 billion in the 2021 report (WealthyBud’s calculation). Totals include all crime types, not only crypto.
How do scammers get paid?
In the FTC’s 2024 Data Book, consumers reported $1.417 billion in fraud losses paid by cryptocurrency, second only to bank transfers or payments at $2.089 billion. The FTC counts payment method on fraud reports, not crypto scams as a category, and only 18% of fraud reports named a payment method.
| Payment method | Reports | Reported loss |
|---|---|---|
| Bank transfer or payment | 47,336 | $2,089 million |
| Cryptocurrency | 46,899 | $1,417 million |
| Payment app or service | 90,571 | $391 million |
| Cash | 13,609 | $308 million |
| Wire transfer | 40,448 | $287 million |
| Credit cards | 108,881 | $275 million |
| Check | 8,098 | $225 million |
| Gift card or reload card | 41,120 | $212 million |
| Debit card | 76,285 | $180 million |
| Money order | 2,658 | $51 million |
Source: FTC Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book 2024 (March 2025), p. 11. Base: 475,905 of 2,600,678 fraud reports (18%) that gave a payment method; amounts use reports where consumers lost between $1 and $999,999.
14. FTC: bank transfers and crypto outweigh all other payment methods combined
Consumers “reported losing more money to scams where they paid with bank transfers or cryptocurrency than all other payment methods combined” in 2024 (FTC press release, March 10, 2025). In the table, the two total $3,506 million versus $1,929 million for the other eight (WealthyBud’s calculation).
15. FTC: the median reported loss paid in crypto was $5,400 in the first half of 2024, against $447 for fraud overall
These are medians of individual reported losses, estimated by the FTC from keyword analysis of report narratives (FTC Data Spotlight, footnote 8).
How can investors report crypto fraud?
File a complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov and a report with the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Send investment-related tips to the SEC at sec.gov/tcr and reports of Commodity Exchange Act violations to the CFTC at cftc.gov/complaint. Reports feed the datasets quoted on this page.
- IC3 (ic3.gov) is “the central hub for reporting cyber-enabled crime” and is run by the FBI. It does not work with law firms or crypto services to recover lost funds.
- ReportFraud.ftc.gov takes fraud and scam reports for the FTC.
- The SEC takes tips about fraudulent or unregistered offers of securities through its online tip, complaint and referral system.
- The CFTC takes reports of Commodity Exchange Act violations through its tip and complaint page.
See also how large exchanges are and where they are based, how many Americans own crypto and how stablecoins work.
What this means for crypto investors
Treat the totals as a floor. Both agencies count reported losses only.
Be wary of unsolicited investment offers. IC3 says these scammers typically make first contact through text messages, social media, advertisements or dating apps.
Do not send cash to a crypto machine on someone else’s instructions. The FTC says anyone who tells you to use a Bitcoin ATM to protect your money is a scammer. Browse the crypto hub for market data on the assets involved.
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