Crypto Scams Soar: FBI Reports $3.94 Billion Losses in 2023

• People are falling for romance scams more often than any other kind of crypto fraud.
• At least $374M worth of crypto was stolen in 2023 via romance scams.

U.S. investment losses in 2023 were mostly attributable to crypto-related investment fraud, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Investment losses associated with cryptocurrency jumped 53% from $2.57 billion in 2022 to about $3.94 billion in 2023, according to a new report from the FBI.

At the same time, $4.57 billion was the grand sum of all investment losses in 2023. Thus, around 86% of all investment fraud losses in the country were $3.94 billion lost due to crypto-related fraud. A growing number of people are falling for crypto scams, according to the FBI, because of the high rewards that scammers offer.

Widespread Problem

People are falling for romance scams more often than any other kind of crypto fraud. In this kind of scam, the criminal creates a false online persona, wins over the victim’s confidence, and then uses a convincing tale to get the victim to give cryptocurrency, after which the criminal vanishes.

According to an analysis conducted by Chainalysis in December 2023, at least $374 million worth of cryptocurrency was stolen in 2023 via romance scams. At the same time, on January 1st, it was revealed that over 324,000 crypto users were scammed in 2023, with around $295 million worth of digital assets snatched by scammers.

The United States isn’t the only country where more and more people are falling prey to crypto frauds; the problem is widespread.

According to an investigation by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in April 2023, the amount of money lost by Australians in investment schemes using cryptocurrency increased by 162.4% from 2021 to 2022, reaching 221.3 million Australian dollars ($146.9 million).

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