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The FBI said this marks a 45pc increase compared to the losses reported in 2022 and warned that investment fraud took the lion’s share.
Crypto continues to be a hotbed for crime, as the FBI says it received more than 69,000 complaints last year regarding crimes involving the use of cryptocurrency.
The US agency says there was more than $5.6bn in reported losses related to crypto-based crime, a 45pc increase compared to 2022. Criminals have been shown exploiting the cryptocurrency sector using various scams, including tech support, romance, investment and government impersonation scams.
Investment fraud was the most prominent scam reported last year, with roughly $3.9bn lost as a result of these scams.
“Scams targeting investors who use cryptocurrency are skyrocketing in severity and complexity,” said FBI director Christopher Wray. “The best way to help stop these crimes is for people to report them to ic3.gov, even if they did not suffer a financial loss.
“The information allows us to stay on top of emerging schemes and criminals’ use of the latest technologies, so we can keep the American public informed and go after those who commit these crimes.”
The FBI shared a list of tips to help people protect themselves from cryptocurrency scams. The agency said criminals frequently try to instil a sense of urgency and isolation into their victims and urged people never to give personal identifying information to anyone without taking the time to verify who they are first.
The agency said fraudulent businesses often use website addresses that mimic real financial institutions but are often slightly different, to convince people the fraudulent website is legitimate.
Cryptocurrency is often used by criminals around the world and the size of this illegal activity can be shocking. A recent report by Chainalysis highlighted the growth of certain illicit activities and claims one site that facilitates this activity processed more than $49bn in cryptocurrency transactions since 2021.
The scale of transactions is also on the rise. Last year, a report by Chainalysis claimed illicit cryptocurrency transactions rose for the second year in a row and reached $20.1bn in 2022.
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