Interpretation | FBI Releases the 2024 Crypto Assets Fraud Report

Author: Lisa Editor: Sherry

In April 2025, the Federal Bureau of Investigation ( FBI ) released the "2024 Cryptocurrency Fraud Report." This report is based on data collected by the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center ( IC3) in 2024 and analyzes the number of cryptocurrency-related complaints, the scale of losses, victim profiles, types of crimes, and the progress of asset recovery. This article will interpret the core content of the report to help readers quickly grasp trend changes and enhance their awareness and prevention capabilities against complex cybersecurity threats.

Key Point 1: Complaint Data for 2024

1. Overall Situation

In 2024, IC3 received a total of 859,532 complaints, resulting in actual losses of $16.6 billion, an increase of 33% compared to 2023. Among these, 256,256 complaints involved actual financial losses, with an average loss of approximately $19,372 per incident. About 83% of the losses were caused by online scams.

2. Cryptocurrency-related information

Complaints related to cryptocurrencies have reached 149,686, resulting in a loss of 9.3 billion dollars, with the loss amount increasing by 66% year-on-year. Among the victims, the group aged over 60 has the highest proportion.

3. Age group over 60

This group submitted 147,127 complaints, reporting losses of $4.885 billion. The number of complaints increased by 46% year-on-year, and the amount of losses increased by 43% year-on-year. Among them, 7,500 people reported losses exceeding $100,000, with an average loss reaching $83,000.

Key Point 2: Analysis of Victim Groups

1. Overall Age Distribution

• Under 20 years old: 17,993 complaints, a loss of 22.5 million dollars.
• Ages 20-29: 71,399 complaints, losses of $540.1 million.
• Age 30-39: 108,899 complaints, losses of 1.4 billion dollars.
• Age 40-49: 112,755 complaints, losses of 2.2 billion dollars.
• Age 50-59: 84,540 complaints, losses of $2.5 billion.
• Age 60 and above: 147,127 complaints, losses of 4.8 billion dollars.

2. Victims of Cryptocurrency

In cryptocurrency investment scams, the age group of 60 and above has the highest number of complaints (8,043 cases), with losses amounting to 1.6 billion dollars, far exceeding other age groups. The 60 and above age group has become a primary target for scammers due to a lack of awareness about fraud prevention and unfamiliarity with new payment methods like cryptocurrency ATMs (2,674 cases, losses of 107,206,251 dollars). They are also the group with the most complaints in extortion/sexual extortion cases (20,445 cases, losses of 724,288,735 dollars).

Key Point Three: Analysis of Crime Types

1. From the number of complaints

• Phishing/Electronic Fraud: 193,407 cases.
• Ransom: Starting from 86,415.
• Personal data breaches: 64,882 cases.
• Chargeback/Transaction Failure Fraud: 49,572 cases.
• Investment fraud: 47,919 cases.

2. From the perspective of the loss amount

• Investment fraud: $6.57 billion.
• Business Email Scams ( BEC ): 2.77 billion dollars.
• Technical Support Scams: $1.46 billion.
• Personal data breach: 1.45 billion USD.
• Chargeback/Transaction Failure Fraud: $785 million.

3. Cryptocurrency-related crimes

• Most complaints: Extortion (47,054 cases), Investment fraud (41,557 cases).
• Largest losses: Investment fraud ($5.8 billion), personal data breaches ($1.1 billion).

The main types of scams encountered by the population aged 60 and above

• The most common types of scams reported: phishing, tech support, ransomware, personal data leaks, investment scams.
• The most common types of losses from scams: investment scams, tech support scams, romance scams, business email scams(BEC), personal data breaches.

Key Point Four: Online Fraud and Asset Recovery

1. Overall Situation of Online Fraud

In 2024, IC3 received 333,981 reports of online fraud, resulting in a loss of $13.7 billion, accounting for 83% of the total annual losses. The main transaction methods included cryptocurrencies, wire transfers, and credit card payments.

2. Typical Fraud Techniques

• Call center scams: 53,369 cases, losses of 1.9 billion dollars.
• Emergency scams (impersonating relatives for help): 357 cases, loss of 2.7 million dollars.
• Toll Road Scam (SMS Phishing): 59,271 cases, loss of 129,000 USD.
• Gold Express Scam: 525 cases, losses of 219 million dollars.

3. Cyber Threats

263,455 network threat-related complaints resulted in a loss of $1.571 billion. Major ransomware variants include Akira, LockBit, RansomHub, FOG, PLAY.

4. Asset Recovery Results

• The FFKC team has handled a total of 3,020 freezing requests, freezing funds of 560 million USD, with a recovery success rate of 66%.
• “Upgrade Action” ( Operation Level Up ) Successful Notification to 4,323 victims of cryptocurrency fraud, helping to recover approximately $285 million in potential losses.
• Collaborated with Indian law enforcement agencies to combat call center fraud, arresting 215 individuals, an increase of 700% year-on-year.
• Successfully froze and recovered multiple large sums of money in financial fraud schemes.

Key Point Five: Preventing Cryptocurrency Scams

In response to the high prevalence of cryptocurrency scams, the FBI has proposed the following prevention recommendations:

• Stay vigilant and avoid high-return temptations: Investments that promise high returns with zero risk are often scams.
• Verify the legitimacy of the trading platform: Use legitimate, regulated exchanges and avoid clicking on unknown links in social media ads.
• Avoid transferring money to strangers: Do not trust online "investment mentors" or "friends".
• Beware of cryptocurrency ATM transactions: Scammers often ask victims to make payments through ATMs, so be sure to stay vigilant.
• Use two-factor authentication (2FA): Enhance account security to prevent hacking.

Summary

The "2024 Cryptocurrency Fraud Report" released by the FBI reveals new trends in cybercrime in the current cryptocurrency asset environment: a significant increase in cryptocurrency-related cases, with the elderly population over 60 becoming the primary victims; fraud techniques are highly specialized and internationalized, and at the same time, cryptocurrency has become the preferred tool for criminals to launder and transfer funds.

Although there has been some progress in asset recovery and international law enforcement cooperation, ordinary users still need to remain highly vigilant considering the overall scale of losses and growth trends, and effectively enhance their security awareness to avoid falling into various scam traps. For governments and financial institutions, continuously strengthening international cooperation, regulatory enforcement, and tracking the flow of funds will be key measures to curb cybercrime and improve the efficiency of law enforcement.