Cryptocurrency Investment Fraud Losses Increased by 53% in 2023, Says FBI

According to CryptoPotato, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reported that losses from cryptocurrency investment fraud incidents rose from $2.57 billion in 2022 to $3.94 billion in 2023, a 53% increase year-over-year. The FBI's Internet Crime Report 2023 revealed that criminals found more ways to scam victims, luring them with promises of high returns on their investments. The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received over 880,400 complaints in 2023, with potential losses exceeding $12.5 billion. The agency observed a 10% and 22% increase in complaints and losses, respectively, compared to 2022. Losses from investment fraud ranked the highest, rising 38% from $3.31 billion in 2022 to $4.57 billion in 2023. Crypto investment scams accounted for $3.94 billion of the $4.57 billion. In addition to crypto investment scam losses, the IC3 received 21,489 Business Email Compromise (BEC) complaints with adjusted losses of over $2.9 billion. The FBI explained that BEC is a sophisticated scam targeting businesses and individuals performing fund transfers. The scammers compromise legitimate business email accounts through social engineering or computer intrusion techniques to conduct unauthorized transfers of funds. The IC3 found that scammers have started using custodial accounts created at financial institutions for crypto exchanges or third-party payment processors. The FBI emphasized the importance of using multi-factor authentication as an additional security layer. The IC3's Recovery Asset Team (RAT) prevented some scams by implementing the Financial Fraud Kill Chain (FFKC) initiative on 3,008 incidents with potential losses of $758 million and freezing $538.39 million, representing a 71% success rate.