Crypto Investment Fraud Cost $5.8 Billion in 2024: 76 Percent of Victims Notified by the FBI Did Not Know They Were Being Scammed
Complaints involving cryptocurrency reached 149,686 in 2024 with reported losses of $9.3 billion, up 66 percent from 2023, according to the FBI IC3 2024 Internet Crime Report. Of those, cryptocurrency investment fraud accounted for 41,557 complaints and $5.8 billion in losses. The FBI calls this scheme "pig butchering." Under Operation Level Up, the FBI and the US Secret Service proactively identified and notified 4,323 victims of crypto investment fraud — and 76 percent of them did not know at the time that they were being scammed.
How the scheme works
The FBI defines cryptocurrency investment fraud as a confidence-based scheme: criminals build a relationship with a victim online, then introduce a fake cryptocurrency investment opportunity and persuade the victim to keep adding money to a platform that appears highly profitable, until withdrawals become impossible. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) adds the mechanics: scammers meet victims through wrong-number texts, dating apps or social platforms; the "new friend" is attractive and wealthy and claims to have made a fortune trading digital assets or foreign exchange. After weeks of contact, the victim is urged to invest, depositing Bitcoin or stablecoins into an unfamiliar trading platform. Early "profits" encourage larger deposits. At withdrawal time, "technical problems" appear, or undisclosed taxes and fees must be paid first — or the request is simply ignored.
California Attorney General's two standard scripts
A California Attorney General consumer alert breaks social-media investment fraud into two scripts. In "pump and dump," ads using unauthorized celebrity photos promise "insider" access or "guaranteed" returns, move users to encrypted platforms such as WhatsApp or Telegram, and use group chats with "expert advice" and fake testimonials to push low-priced stocks or volatile cryptocurrencies; the scammers sell at the top and the price collapses. In the "confidence scam," ads for an investment platform harvest contact details; the scammer builds trust through daily contact and "teaches" the victim to invest small amounts on a fake site or app that mimics a real platform, showing profits and even allowing small withdrawals — until a large withdrawal requires commissions or taxes first, followed by more excuses, and when payments stop, the scammer disappears with the money.
Operation Level Up and where the money goes
IC3 reports that Operation Level Up, launched in January 2024, is estimated to have saved victims $285,639,989, and that 42 victims were referred for suicide intervention. The report also shows Hong Kong as the top foreign destination for fraudulent wire transfers. Cryptocurrency ATM and kiosk fraud drew another 10,956 complaints and $246.7 million in losses in 2024. The California Attorney General warns that fraudulent crypto transactions may be irreversible, and that some fee-charging "asset recovery experts" who approach victims afterward are themselves scammers running a second fraud.
Official red flags
Per the CFTC and the California Attorney General: do not send money to, or trade with, someone you have only met online; run a reverse image search on a new friend's photos; before trading, check whether the person or firm is registered with federal or state regulators — most of these schemes involve unregistered entities. Warning signs include guaranteed returns or "risk-free" promises, high-pressure tactics to invest immediately, celebrity endorsements, requests to use a crypto ATM or send cryptocurrency to a private wallet, requests to receive money for others and convert it to crypto, and requests to move conversations from Facebook to WhatsApp or Telegram. FINRA's BrokerCheck can verify a broker's registration; when your bank or existing adviser warns you, stop and verify first.
Where to report
Internet crime complaints: the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). California residents: the California Attorney General's report page. Consumer fraud reports: the FTC's ReportFraud site.
Source: GSM·USA
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 捷克布拉格的一台比特币 ATM 机（Perituss 摄，CC0）— via Wikimedia Commons / A Bitcoin ATM in Prague, Czech Republic (Perituss, CC0) — via Wikimedia Commons
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