$80.7B and a Prayer: Americans Now Bleed More to Crypto Scams Than to Crypto Gains

Americans lost an estimated $80.7 billion to cryptocurrency scams and cybercrime last year, according to a new report from the Consumer Federation of America, with crypto accounting for more than half of all online fraud losses tallied by the consumer advocacy group. The CFA derived its figure from FBI data showing $11.37 billion in crypto-related scam losses reported to the bureau in 2025, a 22% increase over 2024.

The CFA applied a 7.1x multiplier to the FBI's numbers, drawing on a 2017 Bureau of Justice Statistics survey that found only 14% of fraud victims report incidents to law enforcement. The organization described the resulting estimates as conservative. Ari Redbord, global head of policy at TRM Labs, told Decrypt in April that the FBI's figure serves as "an important benchmark" that "captures only part of the picture," citing a similar underreporting assumption around 15%.

Investment fraud dominated crypto-related complaints, with $8.6 billion reported and $61.4 billion in estimated total losses, up 32% year-over-year. Across all categories, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center logged 1,008,597 complaints and $20.9 billion in reported losses, a 26% annual increase, which the CFA scaled to $148.2 billion total online scam losses, roughly $1,009 per U.S. household. Americans over 60 reported $4.4 billion in crypto fraud losses, accounting for nearly 40% of the total.

For the first time, the FBI tracked AI-enabled crime separately, recording $893 million across 22,364 complaints. Law enforcement response ranges from early-warning operations to asset seizures. The FBI said its Operation Level Up, which contacts potential victims before they send funds, has notified 8,000 people and prevented $500 million in losses, including $225.9 million in 2025, spanning both domestic and international fraudsters.

Federal prosecutors have pursued several major cases tied to international networks. Last year, an Oklahoma man was sentenced to five years in connection with a $9.4 million crypto Ponzi scheme. U.S. attorneys also filed five civil forfeiture complaints targeting more than $25 million in cryptocurrency linked to fraudulent investment platforms and online romance operations affecting victims in the U.S. and Canada. Separately, the Justice Department moved to forfeit 127,271 Bitcoin, then valued at $15 billion, from Prince Group chairman Chen Zhi in connection with forced-labor scam compounds in Cambodia, marking the largest forfeiture action in the case to date. A Scam Center Task Force established by the U.S. has seized approximately $25 million from similar operations.