FBI: Cryptoscams cost Americans $ 9.3 billion in 2024
A detail from the latest FBI report immediately catches the eye: For the first time, more than half of all online fraud in the USA is linked to cryptocurrencies. This shows how deep crypto is now interwoven with organized fraud.
Cryptoscams dominate the landscape
The American federal police published the annual this week Internet Crime Report. The report marks the 25th anniversary of the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) and shows in detail how much damage has caused online crime in 2024. Overall, fraud was reported worth a whopping $ 16.6 billion, an increase of 33% compared to the previous year.
$ 9,32 billion was lost from this amount by crypto-related frauds. This type of fraud has increased by 66% compared to 2023. A total of 149,686 reports on crypto fraud.
The biggest victims? Americans aged 60 and older. They submitted 33,369 complaints and lost $ 2.84 billion together. This is an increase of 71% in the loss, with almost doubling the number of reports compared to the previous year.
Even young people did not escape. In the age group under 20, 1,819 reports were made, which led to a common loss of $ 7,77 million. However, most of the reports came from the age groups between 30 and 49 years, with losses that rose up to $ 1 billion and $ 1.46 billion.
Investments remain the most popular attraction
The most common form of fraud concerned so-called crypto investments. This form alone brought in $ 5,81 billion, over 41,000 reports. Crypto atms and kiosks were also often misused, which led to a loss of $ 246.7 million.
Other tactics, such as blackmail, fake romances, tech support fraud and even false job offers, were also responsible for hundreds of millions of damage. Tech support fraud alone caused almost $ 1 billion loss.
Fortunately, with its initiative 'Operation Level Up', the FBI was also able to warn thousands of victims in good time. Over 4,300 people were addressed because they were about to become victims. Overall, damage of around $ 285 million was prevented, in people who often had not yet realized that they were in the sights of criminals.
The figures confirm that cryptocurrencies are no longer just the domain of speculators and technology enthusiasts, but also a Magnet for fraudsters form. Additional vigilance and education are urgently needed, especially now that Crypto is increasingly playing a leading role in such practices.
