American crypto fraud losses exceed $1.5 billion
US residents lost a staggering $1.56 billion to crypto fraud last year, with crypto losses accounting for 15% of all fraud losses.
US residents lost a staggering $1.56 billion to crypto fraud last year, with crypto losses accounting for 15% of all fraud losses.
Cybercriminals continue to focus on obtaining as much crypto as possible, a recent report from Surfshark has revealed. For example, 2025 marked the third consecutive year when crypto losses exceeded one billion dollars, data from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) showed.
Moreover, loss-per-victim has rapidly increased over the past several years. While in 2021, a victim, on average, lost $18,000, per-victim losses in 2023 ballooned to $28,000.
“In 2023, cryptocurrency fraud accounted for over $1.555 billion in losses in the United States, constituting 15% of all fraud-related losses and affecting over 55,000 people. This positions cryptocurrency as the second-highest payment type in terms of monetary losses following bank transfers,” Surfhark‘s report said.
Last year, over half of all fraud losses originated from various investments and investment advice fraud, totaling $829 million, or $34k loss per victim. Investment fraud was followed by romance scams and business imposter scams, which cost individuals $179 million and $140 million, respectively.
“The overall increase in losses has plateaued in 2023, showing minimal deviation from the figures in 2022. Even if this trend of stalled growth continues into 2024, the scope of losses in cryptocurrency positions it as a significant threat for the year, warranting caution for all current and future crypto holders,” the report’s authors said.