FBI 2025 Internet Crime Report Analysis: Losses Surpass $20.8 Billion, AI-Driven Scams Becoming More Severe

Written by: Slow Fog Technology

On April 7, 2026, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States released the “Internet Crime Report 2025.” This report coincides with the 25th anniversary of the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). Based on over one million complaint data collected in 2025, it provides an in-depth analysis of the historic loss scale exceeding $20.8 billion, victim profiles, investment scams, and other core crime types. It also focuses on the evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) in online scams and breakthroughs in asset recovery by law enforcement agencies.

This article will interpret the core content of the report to help readers quickly grasp the dynamic changes in global cybersecurity threats in 2025 and enhance their understanding and prevention capabilities against complex online scams and AI-driven threats.

Key Point 1: IC3 Complaint Data in 2025

1. Overall Situation

In 2025, IC3 received a total of 1,008,597 complaints, involving a total loss of $1M, a 26% increase from 2024. The average loss per incident was approximately $20,699. Among these, 85% of losses were caused by online scams.

2. Cryptocurrency-Related Cases

Complaints related to cryptocurrencies totaled 181,565, resulting in losses of $20.88B, a 22% increase from 2024. Among them, 18,589 investors lost more than $100k. Among all complainants, those over 60 years old accounted for the highest proportion.

Key Point 2: Victim Group Analysis

1. Overall Age Distribution

• Over 60 years old: 201,266 complaints, losses around $7.75 billion.

• 50-59 years old: 124,820 complaints, losses around $3.68 billion.

• 40-49 years old: 167,066 complaints, losses around $2.96 billion.

• 30-39 years old: 153,293 complaints, losses around $1.74 billion.

• 20-29 years old: 112,069 complaints, losses around $560 million.

• Under 20 years old: 31,254 complaints, losses around $67.1 million.

2. Cryptocurrency Victim Groups

In cryptocurrency investment scams, the group over 60 years old had the highest complaint volume (13,685 cases), with losses reaching $2.76 billion, far exceeding other age groups. This group was also most affected by cryptocurrency ATM/Kiosk scams, with 6,188 complaints and losses of about $11.37B. Due to a lack of understanding of emerging financial technologies and payment methods (such as cryptocurrency ATMs and QR code transfers), combined with relatively weak scam awareness, the over-60 demographic has become a key target for scammers.

It is noteworthy that many victims, after their first scam, fell prey to secondary scams by trusting so-called “fund recovery services”—in “Recovery Scams,” this age group again led with 2,529 complaints and losses exceeding $540 million.

3. Main Scam Types Faced by the Over 60 Group

• Most common scam types: Phishing / Identity impersonation, Technical support / Customer service scams, Investment scams, Personal data leaks, Romance / Trust scams.

• Most costly scam types: Investment scams, Technical support / Customer service scams, Romance / Trust scams, Business email compromise (BEC), Impersonation of government officials.

Key Point 3: Crime Type Analysis

1. Based on Complaint Volume

• Phishing / Electronic deception: 191,561 cases.

• Ransomware: 89,129 cases.

• Investment scams: 72,984 cases.

• Personal data leaks: 67,456 cases.

• Unpaid / Undelivered goods: 56,478 cases.

2. Based on Loss Amount

• Investment scams: approximately $100k.

• Business email compromise (BEC): approximately $257M.

• Technical support / Customer service scams: approximately $8.65B.

• Personal data leaks: approximately $3.05B.

• Romance / Trust scams: approximately $929 million.

3. Cryptocurrency-Related Crimes

Most complaints: investment scams (61,559 cases), extortion (23,797 cases).

Largest losses: investment scams (about $7.28 billion), technical support / customer service scams (about $1.23 billion).

Key Point 4: Online Scam and Law Enforcement Achievements

1. Overall Situation of Online Scams

In 2025, IC3 received 452,868 online scam complaints, causing a loss of $2.14B, accounting for 85% of the total annual loss.

The most common transaction types involved in complaints include cryptocurrencies, wire transfers / ACH transfers, debit / credit cards, peer-to-peer transfers, gift cards / prepaid cards, checks / bank drafts, and cash.

2. Typical Scam Methods

Account Takeover: about 4,700 cases, with losses of $359.7 million.

Gold Express Scam: about 725 complaints, losses of $311.8 million.

Investment Club Scam: about 1,600 complaints, losses of $160 million.

Impersonation of Government Officials: about 32,000 complaints, losses of $798 million.

3. Cyber Threats

In 2025, the types of cyber threats reported to IC3 included:

• Data leaks: accounting for 39%, the most common type.

• Ransomware: 36%, second most common.

• SIM swapping: 10%.

• Malware: 9%.

• Botnets: 7%.

Among these, 3,600 ransomware complaints caused over $32 million in losses. Major ransomware variants include Akira, Qilin, INC./Lynx/Sinobi, BianLian, Play, Ransomhub, Lockbit, Dragonforce, SAFEPA, Medusa.

In response to the frequent ransomware attacks, the FBI recommends key protective measures for enterprises and organizations:

• Create off-site or offline backups and regularly maintain backup and recovery mechanisms;

• Remove default passwords and credentials when installing software;

• Disable and remove unnecessary protocols by default;

• Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all services whenever possible;

• Protect initial intrusion points;

• Implement network segmentation to prevent ransomware spread;

• Keep all operating systems, software, and firmware updated promptly.

4. Asset Recovery Achievements

In 2025, FBI RAT intercepted 3,900 cases through FFKC, freezing $679 million, with a 58% success rate in fund interception.

The “Operation Level Up” (Operation Level Up) issued warnings to over 8,000 victims and recovered over $500 million in potential losses.

In collaboration with Indian law enforcement, they combated call center scams through 27 joint operations, resulting in over 475 arrests.

In financial fraud projects, multiple large sums of funds were successfully frozen and recovered.

Key Point 5: Application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Cybercrime

1. Overall Situation

In 2025, IC3 received over 22k complaints involving AI-related information, with total losses exceeding $1.32B.

2. Complaint Volume

Investment scams: 4,356 cases.

Extortion: 1,764 cases.

Personal data leaks: 1,204 cases.

Phishing / Impersonation scams: 803 cases.

Harassment / Stalking: 763 cases.

3. Loss Amounts

Investment scams: about $632.04 million.

Business email compromise (BEC): about $30.26 million.

Technical support / Customer service scams: about $19.46 million.

Romance / Trust scams: about $19.04 million.

Personal data leaks: about $18.77 million.

4. Specific AI Applications in Typical Scam Scenarios

According to the report, AI has been widely used in the following typical scam scenarios:

• Business email compromise (BEC): Generating impersonation emails of executives or voice cloning to issue transfer instructions. In 2025, related losses exceeded $30 million.

• Romance / Trust scams: Using AI to generate fake identities and dialogue scripts, even employing voice cloning to simulate family members seeking help, with losses over $19 million.

• Recruitment scams: Using voice forgery or deepfake technology during remote interviews to gain internal access, with losses approaching $13 million.

• Investment scams: Using AI to mass-produce personalized communication content and forge videos and voices of celebrities or authorities, with losses exceeding $632 million.

Overall, AI is lowering the threshold for scams and significantly enhancing the scale and disguise capabilities of attacks.

Summary

The “Internet Crime Report 2025” released by the FBI further reveals the deep evolution of the current cybercrime ecosystem: on one hand, the scale of scams continues to rise, with cryptocurrencies remaining a key vehicle for fund transfer and money laundering; on the other hand, criminal methods are accelerating from traditional “opportunity-based fraud” to “precision and industrialized operations,” especially with high penetration into the elderly demographic and the spread of secondary scams like “recovery scams,” reflecting attackers’ deep exploitation of victims’ psychology and behavior patterns. Meanwhile, the introduction of artificial intelligence technology is significantly lowering the barrier to scams and amplifying attack efficiency, gradually transforming online scams into complex threats characterized by automation and large-scale operations.

Although law enforcement has achieved phased results in fund interception and cross-border cooperation, the overall loss scale and growth trend remain severe. For ordinary users, establishing basic risk awareness and anti-fraud consciousness has become a “mandatory course” in the digital age; for industry participants and regulators, enhancing the comprehensive identification of fund flows, behavioral patterns, and abnormal signals through technology, as well as strengthening cross-regional collaborative governance, will be key to addressing new forms of cybercrime in the future.