I just read the new FBI report on internet crime for 2025, and it really has a lot of interesting information. The report was released in April this year and is based on more than one million complaints. The numbers are impressive, but not in a good way.

The most surprising thing is how cryptocurrencies have become the main tool for scammers. 181 thousand complaints related to crypto, with losses of nearly 11,4 billion dollars. That’s a 22% increase compared to 2024. But what’s really alarming is that people over 60 lose the most. In cryptocurrency schemes, this age group was hit hardest—2,76 billion dollars in losses from investment fraud alone.

Why are older people becoming the main target? Because they simply don’t understand new technologies. QR codes, crypto ATMs, transfers—everything about it is like something from another planet to them. Scammers know this well and exploit it. And here’s what’s especially nasty: after the first scam, victims end up in secondary schemes. These are so-called “fund recovery services”—Recovery Scams. People believe someone will help them get their money back, and they lose even more. Only in such schemes, older people lost 5,4 billion dollars.

Overall, the picture of internet crime looks like this: 452 thousand complaints about internet fraud, with 17,7 billion dollars in losses. That’s 85% of all losses. Phishing leads in the number of cases, while investment fraud leads in the total amount of losses—(8,6 billion).

But there’s a new trend that really worries me—it's the use of artificial intelligence in crime. 22 thousand complaints related to AI, with losses of more than 893 million dollars. AI is used to create fake emails from executives, to clone voices, and to make deepfake videos featuring celebrities. All of this makes scammers’ work significantly easier and scales up their operations. Investment fraud using AI brought criminals 632 million dollars.

The FBI is trying to do something. In 2025, they froze 679 million dollars through cryptocurrency operations, successfully blocking 3,900 cases. In the “Level Up” operation, they warned more than 8 thousand potential victims and saved more than 500 million dollars for them. Cooperation with Indian authorities led to 475 arrests in the fight against call-center fraud.

Overall, the picture is like this: the scale of crime is growing, the methods are getting smarter, and cryptocurrencies remain the main channel for money laundering. Older people are the main target. AI lowers the barriers to entering the scam business. For ordinary people, that means one thing: you need to be much more careful, especially if you’re older. For the industry, it’s time to seriously focus on identifying abnormal patterns and strengthen international cooperation. The situation is serious, and it’s not getting better.