Author: Slow Mist Tech
On April 7, 2026, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released the Internet Crime Report 2025. Released on the 25th anniversary of the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), the report analyzes over 1 million complaints collected in 2025, providing an in-depth examination of historic losses exceeding $20.8 billion, victim profiles, investment scams, and other key crime types, with a particular focus on the evolving role of artificial intelligence (AI) in online fraud and law enforcement breakthroughs in asset recovery.
This article will interpret the key findings of the report to help readers quickly understand the evolving dynamics of global cybersecurity threats in 2025 and enhance their awareness and ability to defend against complex cyber fraud and AI-driven threats.
Key Point One: 2025 IC3 Complaint Data
1. Overall Situation
In 2025, the IC3 received 1,008,597 complaints, resulting in total losses of $20.877 billion—a 26% increase from 2024—with an average loss of approximately $20,699 per incident. Of these losses, 85% were caused by cyber scams.
2. Information regarding cryptocurrencies
A total of 181,565 cryptocurrency-related complaints were filed, resulting in cumulative losses of $11.366 billion, a 22% increase from 2024. Among these, 18,589 investors suffered losses exceeding $100,000 each. Of all complainants, the group aged 60 and above accounted for the highest proportion.
Key Point Two: Analysis of the Affected Groups
1. Overall age distribution
Over 60 years old: 201,266 complaints, with losses of approximately $7.75 billion.
Ages 50-59: 124,820 complaints, with losses of approximately $3.68 billion.
Ages 40-49: 167,066 complaints, with losses totaling approximately $2.96 billion.
Aged 30-39: 153,293 complaints filed, with losses totaling approximately $1.74 billion.
Aged 20-29: 112,069 complaints filed, with losses totaling approximately $560 million.
Under 20 years old: 31,254 complaints, with losses of approximately $67.1 million.
2. Cryptocurrency Victim Group
Individuals aged 60 and older filed the highest number of complaints in cryptocurrency investment scams (13,685 cases), suffering losses totaling $2.76 billion—far exceeding those of other age groups. This demographic was also the most affected by cryptocurrency ATM/kiosk scams, with 6,188 complaints and approximately $257 million in losses. Due to limited understanding of emerging financial technologies and payment methods—such as cryptocurrency ATMs and QR code transfers—and relatively weaker awareness of fraud prevention, individuals aged 60 and older have become prime targets for scammers.
Notably, many victims who were initially scammed fell victim to a second scam after believing in so-called “fund recovery services”—in “recovery scams,” this age group again ranked first with 2,529 complaints and losses exceeding $5.4 billion.
3. Main types of scams targeting individuals over 60 years old
The most frequently reported types of scams: phishing / impersonation, tech support / customer service scams, investment scams, personal data breaches, and romance / trust scams.
The most costly types of scams: investment scams, tech support/customer service scams, romance/trust scams, business email compromise (BEC), and impersonation of government officials.
Key Point Three: Analysis of Crime Types
1. Based on the number of complaints
Phishing/electronic fraud: 191,561 cases.
Extortion: 89,129 cases.
Investment fraud: 72,984 cases.
Personal data breaches: 67,456 cases.
Unpaid / Unshipped: 56,478 and above.
2. In terms of the amount of loss
Investment fraud: approximately $8.649 billion.
Business Email Compromise (BEC): Approximately $3.047 billion.
Technical support / customer service scams: approximately $2.135 billion.
Personal data breach: approximately $1.315 billion.
Emotional/trust fraud: approximately $929 million.
3. Cryptocurrency-related crimes
Most reported complaints: investment fraud (61,559 cases), extortion (23,797 cases).
Highest losses: Investment scams (approximately $7.28 billion), tech support/customer service scams (approximately $1.23 billion).
Key Point Four: Network Fraud and Law Enforcement Achievements
1. Overall situation of online fraud
In 2025, the IC3 received 452,868 complaints of online fraud, resulting in $17.697 billion in losses, accounting for 85% of the year's total losses.
The transaction types with the highest number of complaints include cryptocurrencies, wire transfers/ACH transfers, debit/credit cards, peer-to-peer transfers, gift cards/prepaid cards, checks/cashier’s checks, and cash.
2. Typical Scam Tactics
Account takeovers: Approximately 4,700 incidents, resulting in losses of $359.7 million
Gold express delivery scam: Approximately 725 complaints, with losses of $311.8 million.
Investment club scam: Approximately 1,600 complaints and $160 million in losses.
Impersonation of government officials fraud: Approximately 32,000 complaints, with losses of $798 million.
3. Network Threats
The types of cyber threats reported to IC3 in 2025 include:
Data breach: accounts for 39%, the most common type.
Ransomware: accounts for 36%, ranking second.
SIM card replacement: 10%.
Malware: 9%.
Botnet: 7%.
Among these, 3,600 ransomware complaints resulted in losses exceeding $32 million. Major ransomware variants include Akira, Qilin, INC./Lynx/Sinobi, BianLian, Play, Ransomhub, Lockbit, Dragonforce, SAFEPA, and Medusa.
In response to the rising frequency of ransomware attacks, the FBI recommends that businesses and organizations implement the following key protective measures:
Create offsite or offline backups, and regularly maintain backup and recovery procedures;
Clear default passwords and credentials during software installation;
Disable and remove unnecessary protocols by default;
Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all services whenever possible;
Protect the initial point of entry;
Implement network segmentation to prevent the spread of ransomware;
Keep all operating systems, software, and firmware up to date.
4. Asset Recovery Results
In 2025, the FBI RAT, through FFKC, intercepted 3,900 cases and froze $679 million in funds, achieving a fund interception success rate of 58%.
Operation Level Up has issued warnings to over 8,000 victims and helped recover more than $500 million in potential losses.
Collaborated with Indian law enforcement agencies to combat call center scams, resulting in over 475 arrests across 27 joint operations.
In financial fraud cases, successfully frozen and recovered multiple large sums of funds.
Key Point Five: The Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Cybercrime
1. Overall Situation
In 2025, the IC3 received over 22,000 complaints involving AI-related scams, resulting in total losses exceeding $893 million.
2. Based on the number of complaints
Investment fraud: 4,356 cases.
Extortion: 1,764 cases.
Personal data breaches: 1,204 incidents.
Phishing/Impersonation Scams: 803 cases.
Harassment/stalking: 763 cases.
3. In terms of the amount of loss
Investment scam: approximately $632.04 million.
Business Email Compromise (BEC): Approximately $30.26 million.
Technical support / customer service fraud: approximately $19.46 million.
Emotional/trust fraud: approximately $19.04 million.
Personal data breach: approximately $18.77 million.
4. Specific ways AI is used in typical scam scenarios
According to the report, AI has been widely applied in the following typical scam scenarios:
Business Email Compromise (BEC): AI-generated emails mimicking executive tone or voice cloning to issue fund transfer instructions resulted in losses exceeding $30 million in 2025;
Emotional/trust scams: Using AI-generated fake identities and dialogue scripts, even employing voice cloning to simulate relatives seeking help, resulting in losses exceeding $19 million;
Recruitment fraud: Use of voice synthesis or deepfake technology during remote interviews to gain internal corporate access, resulting in losses of nearly $13 million;
Investment fraud: AI is used to generate personalized communication at scale, along with forged videos and audio clips impersonating celebrities or authoritative figures, resulting in losses exceeding $632 million.
Overall, AI is lowering the barrier to fraud and significantly enhancing the scalability and deception capabilities of scams.
Summary
The FBI’s 2025 Internet Crime Report further reveals the deeper evolution of today’s cybercrime ecosystem: on one hand, the scale of fraud continues to rise, with cryptocurrency remaining a key channel for fund transfer and money laundering; on the other hand, criminal tactics are rapidly shifting from traditional “opportunistic fraud” toward “targeted, industrialized operations,” particularly through intense exploitation of elderly populations and the spread of secondary scams such as “recovery scams,” highlighting attackers’ deep understanding of victims’ psychological and behavioral patterns. Meanwhile, the integration of artificial intelligence is significantly lowering the barrier to entry for fraud and amplifying attack efficiency, transforming cyber fraud into a complex threat system characterized by automation and scalability.
Although law enforcement agencies have achieved interim success in fund interception and cross-border collaboration, the risk landscape remains severe when considering the overall scale and growth trend of losses. For ordinary users, developing basic risk identification skills and anti-fraud awareness has become a "mandatory course" in the digital age; for industry participants and regulatory bodies, enhancing the ability to comprehensively detect fund flows, behavioral patterns, and anomaly signals at the technical level, while strengthening cross-regional collaborative governance, will be critical to addressing emerging cybercrimes in the future.