In connection with the 2025 Internet Crime Report, the FBI said cryptocurrency and AI scams were linked to nearly $21 billion in losses. The report highlights AI-influenced complaint patterns including phishing/spoofing, extortion, and investment fraud.

The FBI’s April 6 release summarizing the 2025 Internet Crime Report frames crypto fraud and AI-enabled scams as a major driver of large-scale losses. The agency reported that nearly $21 billion in losses were associated with these categories, underscoring that modern scam operations can combine automation and AI-style persuasion techniques with classic fraud structures. The FBI specifically points to complaint types that often include phishing and spoofing, extortion, and investment schemes. This kind of reporting is important because it helps identify the “shapes” of fraud that keep repeating: impersonation that leads people to click links or reveal account details; threats designed to force rapid payment decisions; and investment pitches that rely on momentum, social proof, or promises of returns. AI can amplify each of these by making messages sound more personal and credible and by increasing the speed at which scammers can generate content and targets. The FBI also directed victims to submit reports to IC3 and to contact local FBI offices, reinforcing the role of centralized reporting in building investigations. Better reporting can improve analytics and support downstream actions such as removing malicious infrastructure or warning other potential targets. For readers, the safest response to such reporting is to treat unsolicited crypto opportunities, suspicious “support” prompts, and messages demanding immediate action as red flags. Verify sender identity outside the message thread, avoid clicking embedded links, and do not send funds to addresses that were not independently confirmed. Overall, the FBI’s summary provides a high-visibility reminder that AI-driven persuasion can translate into very real financial harm at national scale.