Crypto scams are an unfortunate side effect of the crypto sector. In 2024, Americans has combined losses of $9.6 billion.
So, let’s find out some ore details about these 2024 crypto scams.
The FBI has a 47-page report covering crypto scams in 2024. The estimated total amount the scammers got away with is $16.6 billion. That’s the worldwide number. In the US, the total damage according to the FBI was $9.3 billion. That’s 56% of the total number of crypto scams in 2024.
Worldwide total complaints number 859,532. In the US, that amounted to well over 150,000 complaints. For the US, that’s a 66% increase of losses. Double the amount of the worldwide increase in losses. In other words, Americans got scammed hard.
The most popular scam was investment related. This alone accounted for $5.8 billion in lost assets. That’s 62% of the total losses for Americans. Part of the tactics used by the scammers is also known as ‘pig butchering’. This should lead victims into investing into fraudulent platforms.
Especially the elderly are being taken advantage of. The 60+ age group reported over $2.6 billion in losses. This is the group that is most affected by these crypto scams. In a preventive move, the FBI launched Operation Level Up, This was in early 2024. The project identified over 4,300 crypto scams victims. However, this resulted in the prevention of almost $286 million worth of crypto scams. Timely intervention and their investigative efforts made this operation a success.
Source: FBI Report
Besides the already mentioned ‘pig butchering’ scam, phishing attempts were also popular scams. Another new trend showed AI generated persona, to avoid detection. Other targets in crypto were QR codes, crypto ATMs and impersonation.
The scammers took full advantage of the pseudonymous and irreversible features of crypto. In response, the agency’s Recovery Asset Team managed to freeze USD 561 million worth of assets. For this it used the Financial Fraud Kill Chain process with a 66% success rate.
So, scammers continue their trade to this very day. Today’s latest story involves an OG Bitcoin account that got hacked for 3,530 $BTC. That’s worth $330.7 million at the current $BTC price. So, be careful out there!
Disclaimer
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FBI: Americans aged 60 and older reported losing almost $3 billion to crypto fraud last year. In total, Americans reported being scammed out of around $9.3 billion via crypto, out of a total $16.6 billion in total reported losses that year.
Nine hours ago a suspicious transfer was made from a potential victim for 3520 BTC ($330.7M) Theft address bc1qcrypchnrdx87jnal5e5m849fw460t4gk7vz55g Shortly after the funds began to be laundered via 6+ instant exchanges and was swapped for XMR causing the XMR price to spike Show more
