The FBI says Americans lost over $5.6 billion to cryptocurrency fraud schemes last year, marking a 45% increase in losses compared with 2022, The Associated Press reports. The FBI received nearly 70,000 complaints in 2023 from victims of financial fraud involving Bitcoin, ether, and other cryptocurrencies. The most rampant scheme was investment fraud, which accounted for $3.96 billion of the losses. “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,” said Michael Nordwall of the FBI’s criminal investigative division.
The FBI said that scammers will often make contact through dating apps or social media to build trust over several weeks or months before suggesting cryptocurrency investing. Once the relationship is built, they convince the targets to use fake websites or apps to invest their money, sometimes even allowing the victims to withdraw small amounts early on to make it seem legitimate. In some cases, victims are then targeted by bogus businesses claiming they will help the victim recover the cryptocurrency they lost. FBI officials say Americans of all ages can be a target of such scams and should be extremely cautious when presented with investment opportunities from people they’ve never met in real life.
Comments