FBI Reveals Americans Lost $5B in Cryptocurrency Scams Last Year

Affecting thousands of Americans, more than $5.6 billion was lost in 2023 through cryptocurrency scams, according to the FBI. The figure represents a 45% increase in losses reported the year before.

Last year, almost 70,000 complaints related to financial fraud involving cryptocurrencies like bitcoin were received by the FBI. Almost $4 billion of the reported losses — nearly 71% — were attributed to investment fraud.

“The decentralized nature of cryptocurrency, the speed of irreversible transactions, and the ability to transfer value around the world make cryptocurrency an attractive vehicle for criminals, while creating challenges to recover stolen funds,” stated Michael Nordwall, assistant director of the FBI’s criminal investigative division, per AP News.

People are often duped into these schemes through dating apps or social media. Fraudsters will spend weeks and sometimes months building trust with an intended victim before suggesting a cryptocurrency investment. If the target is open to investing, the scammer will use a fake website or app to convince the person to send money.

The scams are sometimes even sophisticated enough to allow the victim to withdraw some money to make it look genuine. Once the swindle is revealed and the money ultimately disappears, victims are then harassed by fake businesses claiming they can recover the lost funds.

The FBI is encouraging Americans to report any cryptocurrency scam they may have fallen for as the number of overseas scammers is rapidly increasing. Criminals prefer the mysterious and complicated nature of crypto, which helps make it easy to trick anyone unsuspecting of a scam.

Victims of the cryptocurrency swindles come from all walks of life. While scammers can target people of any age, the federal agency says people 60 and over reported $1.6 billion in losses. The FBI further noted that any person should remain wary of any investment opportunity offer from someone they’ve never met offline.

Even the National Basketball Association (NBA) can get into hot water involving cryptocurrency. Earlier this year, the organization was hit with a lawsuit related to its alleged role with Voyager Digital Holdings, a cryptocurrency exchange business that has since closed. The plaintiffs in the case accuse the NBA of promotional activities that reportedly led to approximately $4.2 billion in losses for investors.