FBI Exposes $9.3B Crypto Scam Epidemic—Seniors Bear the Brunt
Another day, another crypto crime wave—this time with a $9.3 billion price tag and retirees as prime targets. The FBI’s latest report cuts through the hype, revealing how bad actors exploit both blockchain’s opacity and old-school human trust.
Why the elderly?
Simple: they’ve got savings, not savviness. Romance scams, fake tech support, and ‘urgent’ IRS demands bypass common sense via emotional manipulation. Meanwhile, regulators scramble to keep up—classic ‘whack-a-mole’ with extra zeros.
The bitter irony?
These scams thrive on the same decentralized promises that drew idealists to crypto. Now grandma’s life savings fuel Lambo dreams for anonymous hustlers. Stay paranoid out there—DYOR applies to avoiding fraudsters too.
Investment and ATM scams rise
Crypto investment scams, especially those using “pig butchering” tactics, were the leading contributors to last year’s crypto-related losses.
These scams involve bad actors developing fake emotional relationships with victims before persuading them to invest in fraudulent crypto platforms. Losses from these schemes totaled around $5.8 billion in 2024 alone.
Another troubling trend was cybercriminals using crypto ATMs and QR codes in scams involving tech support and fake government representatives. These schemes generated an additional $247 million in losses by tricking victims into transferring crypto funds directly to scammers.
According to the report, these scams were often designed to appear legitimate, making it easier to deceive victims into handing over their money.
Crypto scams targeting the elderly
Meanwhile, the report highlighted a disturbing pattern of crypto scams targeting older Americans.
Victims aged 60 and over filed 33,369 crypto-related complaints in 2024, resulting in losses exceeding $2.8 billion. This represents a loss rate more than four times higher than the average for other online fraud cases.
On average, each senior victim lost around $83,000, significantly more than the $19,372 average reported across all types of cybercrime.
To address this growing threat, the FBI has introduced several initiatives to protect vulnerable individuals.
One of these is Operation Level Up, which is focused on identifying and assisting victims of crypto investment fraud. So far, it has helped prevent or recover approximately $285 million in losses.
Yarbrough said:
“We worked proactively to prevent losses and minimize victim harm through private sector collaboration and initiatives like Operation Level Up. We disbanded fraud and laundering syndicates, shut down scam call centers, shuttered illicit marketplaces, dissolved nefarious ‘botnets,’ and put hundreds of other actors behind bars.”
