FBI: Cyber crimes cost Americans $21 billion in ’25

Cyber crimes defrauded Americans out of nearly $21 billion last year amid rises in cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence-fueled scams, according to the FBI’s 2025 Internet Crime Report. .The FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center received more than 1 million total complaints, up from less than 860,000 in 2024, according to the April 6 report. The Crime Complaint Center received 453,000 cyber-enabled fraud complaints last year, with more than $17.7 billion in total losses. Investment fraud accounted for nearly half of scam-related losses. According to the report, AI accounted for nearly 22,400 complaints, costing Americans almost $900 million.Americans over the age of 60 reported $7.7 billion in losses, up 37 percent from 2024. “Scammers rely on pressure techniques to defraud Americans while deploying fake social profiles, voice clones, identification documents and believable videos depicting public figures or loved ones,” according to the report. Americans who reported cryptocurrency fraud saw the highest losses, with 181,565 complaints totaling more than $11 billion. “Phishing/spoofing, extortion and investment schemes were the most frequently reported complaints,” according to the April 6 report. Speaking last month, Independent Community Bankers of America Senior Vice President Brian Laverdure said cryptocurrency scams are proliferating worldwide. Illicit financial activity has surged, according to Nasdaq Verafin’s 2026 Global Financial Crime Report. Released last month, the report found illicit financial activity surged $1.3 trillion since 2023, to an estimated $4.4 trillion. Using manipulation, scammers convince victims to deposit more money into fraudulent financial investments via crypto. In reality, all that money is under the control of and stolen by criminals, usually overseas, leading to victims losing the money. Another scam involves scammers convincing victims to move money to an exchange, at which point it is converted to crypto and moved to a wallet. Laverdure suggested banks run reports on ACH and card transactions to decipher the crypto activity customers engage with. Frontline staff should be educated about common red flags, know how to ask the right questions and alert the appropriate bank channels, he added. Laverdure advised victims to report fraud to the Federal Trade Commission and the Internet Crime Complaint Center.