The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States has revealed that investment fraud related to cryptocurrency accounted for the largest portion of investment losses in the country in 2023.
In a recent report, the FBI stated that losses from crypto-related investment fraud rose from $2.57 billion in 2022 to approximately $3.94 billion in 2023, representing a significant increase of 53%.
Interestingly, the overall amount lost from all types of investments in 2023 reached $4.57 billion. This means that the $3.94 billion lost in crypto-related fraud made up approximately 86% of all investment fraud losses in the nation.
The FBI emphasized that an increasing number of individuals are falling victim to crypto scams as they are enticed by the promise of high returns on their investments.
One of the most common crypto scams that people are falling prey to is romance scams. This occurs when criminals adopt fake online identities to gain the affection and trust of their victims before manipulating them into sending crypto, only to vanish afterwards.
In December 2023, Chainalysis reported that romance scams were responsible for at least $374 million in suspected stolen crypto throughout the year.
Furthermore, Cointelegraph reported on January 1 that over 324,000 crypto users were victims of phishing scams in 2023, resulting in approximately $295 million in digital assets being lost to wallet drainers.
However, it’s not just the United States experiencing a surge in crypto scam victims. Countries worldwide are also grappling with this issue.
In April 2023, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission disclosed that Australians lost 221.3 million Australian dollars ($146.9 million) to investment scams involving crypto as the payment method in 2022, marking a staggering 162.4% increase from the previous year.