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US cyber fraud hits a record: key findings of the FBI IC3 2025 report
Losses reported to the FBI reached $20.9 billion in 2025, up 26%. Key figures on investment fraud, BEC, crypto and scams targeting older Americans.
The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) annual report, released in April 2026, recorded the highest losses in its history. In 2025, victims reported $20.877 billion in losses, up 26% from $16.6 billion in 2024. Complaints topped one million for the first time: 1,008,597, versus 859,532 the year before.
Cyber-enabled fraud drove most of the damage, at $17.6–17.7 billion, or 85% of losses, according to The Record.
The costliest scams
Investment fraud leads by a wide margin: $8.65 billion across 72,984 complaints, including $7.2 billion in crypto investment fraud.
| Type | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Investment | $4.57bn | $6.57bn | $8.65bn |
| BEC | $2.95bn | $2.77bn | $3.05bn |
| Tech support | $924.5m | $1.46bn | $2.13bn |
| Romance / confidence | $652.5m | $672.0m | $929.3m |
| Government impersonation | $394.1m | $405.6m | $797.9m |
Government impersonation nearly doubled in both complaints (17,367 to 32,424) and losses. Business email compromise (BEC) produced 24,768 complaints and $3,046,598,558 in losses, few victims but large sums per case.
Crypto and older Americans
Crypto-related losses reached $11.366 billion (+22%) across 181,565 complaints. People aged 60 and over filed 201,266 complaints (+37%) and lost $7.748 billion (+59%), an average of $38,500 per victim; $3.52 billion of that was investment fraud. In 2024 the group reported $4.885 billion, according to the IC3 2024 report.
Other highlights
- Phishing/spoofing led in complaint count (191,561) with $215.8 million in losses.
- Extortion: 89,129 complaints, $122.5 million.
- Personal data breach: 67,456 complaints, $1.315 billion.
- AI: 22,364 complaints with an AI component, totaling $893.3 million.
- Ransomware: 3,611 complaints and over $32 million (2024: 3,156 and about $12 million). Top variants included Akira, Qilin, BianLian, Play, RansomHub and LockBit.
California led state losses ($3.675 billion), followed by Texas, Florida and New York. Victims outside the US reported about $1.6 billion; Brazil ranked 7th among foreign countries with 2,686 complaints.
Recovered funds and the FTC view
IC3's Recovery Asset Team froze $679 million, 58% of roughly $1.1 billion in cases it handled, per Help Net Security. Separately, the FTC reported $15.9 billion in consumer fraud losses for 2025 from 3 million reports. The two datasets differ and should not be added.
What to do
- Distrust guaranteed returns, especially in crypto and when contact began on social media.
- Businesses: verify any change to a supplier's bank details by phone, using a known number.
- Talk to older relatives about tech-support and government-impersonation scams.
- Report quickly at ic3.gov; speed improves the odds of freezing funds.
Fuente
- FBI IC3, 2025 Internet Crime Report (cópia do PDF)
- FBI IC3, 2025 Internet Crime Report (cópia do PDF, Finsiders)
- Help Net Security: FBI report on online crime losses
- The Record: cyber fraud surges to $17 billion
- FBI IC3, 2024 Internet Crime Report
- FTC: testimony to the Joint Economic Committee (Mar 2026)