Somehow crypto scams grew by nearly 50 percent last year

Cryptocurrency may not be in the spotlight like during the 2021 to 2022 crypto boom, but that doesn't mean the money isn't flowing. Cybercriminals are still utilizing crypto to generate billions of dollars in fraudulent income each year.

In fact, according to the FBI, 2023 was the most lucrative year yet for cryptocurrency scammers.

A new FBI report released on Monday says more than $5.6 billion in losses were reported in 2023 as a result of cryptocurrency scams. The data comes from more than 69,000 complaints the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center received last year. 

Crypto scams bigger than ever before

The FBI's cryptocurrency scam report is especially interesting since 2023 was the first full year following the crypto boom. The crypto industry was shaken up in 2022 when a number of crypto tokens collapsed following the downfall of large crypto firms like Celsius and Terraform Labs. Then in November 2022, one of the largest crypto exchanges, FTX, went bankrupt. While some crypto tokens and blockchain-based companies have since bounced back, the industry has yet to recover its mainstream appeal.

Cryptocurrency scams, however, appear to be going stronger than ever before. The FBI's 2023 cryptocurrency report shows that crypto scams grew 45 percent compared to the year before.

In fact, 2023 losses from cryptocurrency scams now make up more than half of the total number of losses from all online scams from the FBI's 2022 report.

According to the FBI, investment fraud is the biggest of the cryptocurrency scams. The report found that crypto investment scams specifically increased by 53 percent, with $3.96 billion in losses compared to 2022's $2.57 billion. 

Different types of scams affected age demographics differently. For example, those in the 30-39 and 40-49 age groups were most affected by crypto investment scams. However, the most complaints reported and overall loss totals were from those over 60. According to the FBI, more than $1.6 billion in crypto-related scam losses came from the over 60 age group.

Of course, the likely total of crypto scam losses is much higher than what's in the FBI report as the agency can only include data sent to them by the victims.

"Scams targeting investors who use cryptocurrency are skyrocketing in severity and complexity,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray in the bureau's statement on the report. "The best way to help stop these crimes is for people to report them to ic3.gov, even if they did not suffer a financial loss. The information allows us to stay on top of emerging schemes and criminals’ use of the latest technologies, so we can keep the American public informed and go after those who commit these crimes."