The FBI claims that 86% of all investment losses in the US in 2023 were due to investment fraud involving cryptocurrencies.
According to a report by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States, the majority of investment losses in the country in 2023 were attributable to investment fraud related to cryptocurrencies. According to a recent FBI analysis, losses on cryptocurrency investments climbed by 53%, from $2.57 billion in 2022 to around $3.94 billion in 2023.
In contrast, $4.57 billion was lost altogether in 2023 from all investments. This indicates that almost 86% of all investment fraud losses in the country were accounted for by the $3.94 billion lost due to crypto-related fraud.
The FBI stressed that more and more people are falling for cryptocurrency scams since they might potentially earn large returns on their investments.
“The purpose of these scams is to lure their intended victims by promising them large returns on their investments.”
Romance scams are among the most prevalent cryptocurrency frauds that victims fall for. This is the situation where a criminal assumes a false online persona in order to win the love and confidence of a victim, fabricates a tale to convince the victim to give cryptocurrency, and then vanishes. Chainalysis revealed in December 2023 that at least $374 million in alleged stolen cryptocurrency in 2023 was the result of romance scams.
On January 1st, 2023, it was revealed that more than 324,000 cryptocurrency users became victims of phishing schemes, resulting in the loss of around $295 million in digital assets due to wallet drainers.
But the growth in Americans becoming victims of cryptocurrency frauds isn’t limited to the United States; other nations are also dealing with a similar problem.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission released a study in April 2023 stating that, in 2022—a 162.4% rise from 2021—Australians lost 221.3 million Australian dollars ($146.9 million) as a result of investment scams in which cryptocurrency was utilised as the payment mechanism.