Americans Lost $80.7B to Crypto Scams in 2025, CFA Says

The Consumer Federation of America estimated that Americans lost $80.7 billion to cryptocurrency scams in 2025, applying a 7.1x multiplier to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s reported crypto losses of $11.37 billion to account for unreported cases.

The multiplier comes from a 2017 Bureau of Justice Statistics finding that about 14% of fraud victims report crimes to law enforcement. The CFA described its 7.1x factor as conservative and said the adjustment expands the scope beyond complaints visible in official data.

The FBI’s complaint center recorded $11.37 billion in crypto‑related scam losses in 2025, a 22% increase from 2024. Across all complaint categories, the center logged 1,008,597 complaints and $20.9 billion in reported losses, up 26% year over year. Scaled by the CFA’s multiplier, the total estimated fraud losses across categories reaches about $148.2 billion, or roughly $1,009 per U.S. household.

Investment fraud was the largest single category, with $8.6 billion in reported losses and a $61.4 billion estimate after applying the multiplier, a 32% increase from the prior year.

Americans over 60 experienced a disproportionate share of crypto losses. People older than 60 reportedly lost $4.4 billion to crypto scams, nearly 40% of the FBI’s reported crypto total.

The FBI also flagged AI‑enabled crime separately for the first time, recording $893 million in losses across 22,364 complaints.

Law enforcement and prosecutors have increased actions against operators and platforms tied to scams. The FBI’s Operation Level Up, which contacts potential victims before they send funds, has reached about 8,000 people and helped prevent approximately $500 million in losses, including $225.9 million last year.

Federal agencies filed civil forfeiture complaints to seize cryptocurrency linked to fraudulent investment and romance schemes, and prosecutors moved to forfeit 127,271 bitcoins, then valued at about $15 billion, in a case connected to forced‑labor sites in Cambodia. Authorities have also seized more than $25 million in cryptocurrency tied to international scams that affected victims in the United States and Canada. The company named in the bitcoin forfeiture has denied involvement in the alleged scam operations.

Consumer groups criticized social platforms for allowing scam advertising and filed legal action against a major social network over alleged deceptive ads. Ben Winters, director of AI and privacy at the CFA, criticized platforms, saying, “Tech companies are too often allowed to avoid accountability.” The CFA highlighted Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp as frequently associated with deceptive promotions and pointed to proposed legislation, the SCAM Act, which would bar online platforms from displaying fraudulent or deceptive ads.

Industry and policy experts said the FBI figure serves as an important benchmark but does not capture all losses because many victims do not report fraud. Ari Redbord, global head of policy at TRM Labs, called the bureau’s number “an important benchmark” and added it “captures only part of the picture,” noting underreporting is common and some analysts use a roughly 15% reporting assumption.

The CFA presented the estimate as material for lawmakers and regulators considering steps on fraud prevention, platform oversight and advertising standards. The report outlines enforcement actions, industry warnings for potential victims and legislative proposals under review by policymakers.