Online scam losses crossed $20 billion

Online scams continued to generate massive losses, with the FBI’s latest Internet Crime Report showing more than $20 billion in reported losses and more than 1 million complaints filed. The same report noted that losses in the prior year reached $16.6 billion, showing a sharp jump in financial harm tied to internet-enabled crime.

The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center tracks online crime across more than two dozen categories. That includes threats such as identity theft and ransomware, along with broader fraud activity carried out through digital channels. Based on complaint volume, phishing and spoofing were the most commonly reported crime types, reaching 191,561 complaints. Extortion followed with 89,129 complaints.

These figures reflect only complaints submitted to the FBI. And that matters. The agency said it cannot estimate how many cyber-enabled crimes go unreported each year, which means the scale of harm may be even larger than the complaint totals suggest.

Phishing, spoofing and extortion remained leading complaint categories

Phishing and spoofing generated the most complaints

Phishing and spoofing led all reported internet crime categories in complaint count. With 191,561 complaints, these scams remained one of the most common ways people were targeted online. Their continued dominance shows how effective impersonation and deceptive messaging still are, even as scam tactics evolve.

Extortion ranked second in complaint volume

Extortion was the next most reported category, with 89,129 complaints. That ranking highlights how pressure-based scams and online coercion continue to affect a large number of people, even alongside more heavily publicized threats like cryptocurrency fraud and AI-powered deception.

Elder fraud caused some of the heaviest losses

Adults over 60 remained the most vulnerable group

The report found that people over 60 were still the most vulnerable to online scams. Elder fraud accounted for 201,266 complaints and $7.75 billion in reported losses. That was a 37% increase from the previous year.

The average loss in these cases reached $38,500, which helps explain why this category stands out not just for complaint count, but for the financial damage attached to it. The losses weren’t spread evenly, either. A significant number of victims suffered especially severe outcomes.

More than 12,000 people lost at least $100,000

Among elder fraud victims, 12,444 people lost more than $100,000 to scams. That detail gives the broader totals real weight. We’re not talking only about isolated low-dollar incidents. A large group of people experienced life-changing financial damage.

And honestly, that’s one of the hardest parts of the data to ignore. The numbers are huge at the top line, but this figure shows how often individual losses were devastating.

Cryptocurrency scams accounted for the biggest share of losses

The FBI received 181,565 cryptocurrency-related complaints. That alone shows how deeply crypto has become tied to internet fraud activity. But the bigger issue was the size of the losses attached to those complaints.

Investment scams drove more than $11 billion in losses

Cryptocurrency investment scams represented the largest share of losses for US citizens, totaling more than $11 billion. That made crypto fraud one of the most financially damaging scam categories in the report.

The report also described how many of these scams operate. It said they are largely carried out by organized criminal enterprises based in Southeast Asia, using victims of human trafficking as forced labor to run scam operations. That detail adds a grim layer to the fraud ecosystem behind the losses, showing that the damage extends beyond the people being tricked out of money.

AI made scams more believable and harder to spot

The rise of better AI tools is making scams more difficult to recognize. The report recorded 22,364 AI-related complaints tied to $893 million in losses over the year. That suggests AI is not just a side factor. It’s becoming a real force multiplier for fraud.

Voice cloning and realistic scripts increased deception

The AI-related complaints included confidence and romance scams, where fake profiles and scripts sounding like believable human speech were used to draw people in. The report also pointed to grandparent scams, sometimes called distress scams, where AI voice cloning was used to imitate a relative in danger.

That kind of tactic changes the texture of online fraud. It’s one thing to get a suspicious message. It’s another to hear a voice that sounds familiar and urgent. And that’s exactly why these scams can be so effective.

A separate report from the National Consumer League also found that AI has more than doubled average financial losses year over year, reinforcing the idea that AI is accelerating both the scale and sophistication of scam activity.

FBI cybercrime response efforts focused on prevention and recovery

The financial fraud kill chain recovered part of attempted thefts

The report also outlined steps the FBI is taking to combat cybercrime. One major effort came through the IC3 Recovery Asset Team and its financial fraud kill chain. Out of 3,900 reported incidents, the team froze $679 million in assets from $1.2 billion in attempted theft. That amounts to a 58% success rate.

Those numbers don’t erase the damage, but they do show that intervention can make a measurable difference when fraud is identified quickly enough.

New programs targeted crypto compounds and scam networks

The FBI formed a new Scam Center Strike Force focused on cryptocurrency investment fraud. Its role includes identifying the compounds and leaders in Southeast Asia behind these scams.

Other efforts include Operation Level Up, which is designed to uncover scams and notify victims. According to the report, 78% of those victims were unaware they were being scammed. The program places specific emphasis on call center fraud, ransomware and data breaches.

Why the report points to a broader cybercrime problem

The report’s complaint totals, loss figures and victim patterns all point in the same direction: online fraud is growing in both scale and sophistication. Traditional tactics like phishing and spoofing are still highly effective. At the same time, crypto fraud is driving extraordinary losses, elder fraud is hitting older adults especially hard, and AI is making deception more convincing.

What stands out most is how these trends overlap. The scams aren’t separate problems. They reinforce one another. Crypto creates bigger financial opportunities for fraudsters, AI helps them sound more credible, and vulnerable groups continue to absorb some of the worst damage.