Americans lost nearly $21 billion to cyber-enabled crime in 2025. The FBI made that clear in its 2025 Internet Crime Report, released April 6. The numbers are not just big. They signal something has shifted.
The Internet Crime Complaint Center, known as IC3, logged 1,008,597 total complaints last year. That is up from 859,532 in 2024. Phishing, extortion, and investment schemes topped the list of the most reported crimes.
Crypto Fraud Now Tops $11 Billion
Cryptocurrency complaints alone accounted for more than $11 billion in reported losses. The 181,565 complaints tied to crypto made it the single costliest category in the entire report, according to the FBI’s official press release. Investment fraud drove nearly half of all scam-related losses, close to 49% of the total.
The FBI launched Operation Level Up in 2024 to get ahead of crypto investment fraud. The initiative has since notified over 8,000 victims still mid-scam. It has also cut losses by more than $500 million since it started.
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AI Scams Make Their IC3 Debut
For the first time in IC3’s nearly 25-year history, the report added a section on artificial intelligence. The numbers there are striking too. AI-linked complaints reached 22,364 cases. Losses tied to them came in at close to $893 million.
Scammers are using AI to build fake social profiles, clone voices, forge identification documents, and generate convincing videos. Some impersonate public figures. Others target family members. The technology makes the fraud harder to spot in real time.
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Older Americans Take the Hardest Hit
Americans over 60 reported approximately $7.7 billion in losses. That is a 37% jump from 2024. The FBI did not offer a single explanation for the spike. Tech support fraud, compromised corporate emails, and personal data breaches all played a role.
The FBI launched Operation Winter SHIELD in 2026. The initiative lays out concrete steps organizations can take to sharpen their digital defenses. IC3 now receives close to 3,000 complaints every single day.
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The FBI Wants You to Pause
Cyber-enabled fraud complaints across all categories totaled roughly 453,000. Losses from those alone exceeded $17.7 billion. That figure sits separate from the broader $21 billion headline number.
The FBI’s message is direct. Take a beat. Resist pressure to act fast. Document every interaction, every payment method, every contact before turning over anything. Anyone who believes they were defrauded should file at ic3.gov immediately or contact their local FBI field office.
The 2025 figures confirm what law enforcement has tracked for years. Scammers combine urgency with technology. The result, again and again, is billions gone.
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