The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Web Crime Criticism Middle (IC3) has launched its annual report detailing complaints and losses because of scams and fraud involving cryptocurrency in 2024.
Based on the report launched on April 23, the IC3 acquired greater than 140,000 complaints referencing cryptocurrency in 2024, leading to roughly $9.3 billion in losses. The bureau reported that people over the age of 60 had been essentially the most affected by crypto-related fraud, with roughly 33,000 complaints and $2.8 billion in losses.
“Final yr noticed a brand new report for losses reported to IC3, totaling a staggering $16.6 billion,” stated the report. “Fraud represented the majority of reported losses in 2024, and ransomware was once more essentially the most pervasive risk to important infrastructure, with complaints rising 9% from 2023,” notes the report, including that, as a bunch, these over the age of 60 suffered essentially the most losses and submitted essentially the most complaints.
The report added that the resultant losses had elevated roughly 66% since 2023, from roughly $5.6 billion to $9.3 billion. Probably the most vital share of losses occurred because of crypto funding schemes, whereas the biggest variety of complaints associated to “sextortion” schemes, wherein fraudsters manipulated images and movies to create express content material. Different scams included schemes involving using crypto ATMs or kiosks.
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In February, the FBI reported its “Operation Degree Up” had saved potential victims of crypto fraud roughly $285 million between January 2024 and January 2025. Nevertheless, blockchain analytics agency Chainalysis speculated that 2025 might see the biggest variety of scams to this point, provided that generative AI is making the follow “extra scalable and reasonably priced for unhealthy actors to conduct.”
Globally, Chainalysis estimated that there had been roughly $41 billion in illicit crypto quantity in 2024, with roughly 25% of the funds concerned with “hacking, extortion, trafficking, or scams.” Among the most high-profile crimes included the $1.4 billion in crypto stolen from the Bybit alternate in March and North Korean hackers taking greater than $1.3 billion.
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