The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) says that in 2022, investment scams were the costliest type of fraud in the US. The FBI states in its Internet Crime Report 2022 (IC3) that fraud complaints jumped from $1.45 billion in 2021 to $3.31 billion in 2022. Leading the pack was crypto, which saw tallied fraud rocket from $907 million in 2021 to $2.57 billion in 2022, an increase of 183%.
The FBI outlined the various types of fraud they have covered, including:
- Liquidity Mining: victims are enticed to link their cryptocurrency wallet to a fraudulent liquidity mining application.
- Hacked Social Media: scammers used hacked social media accounts to perpetrate a fraudulent investment opportunity using cryptocurrency, targeting existing friends of the hacked user.
- Celebrity Impersonation: impersonating a well-known celebrity or social figure, the scammers feign a friendship with the targeted victim
- Real Estate Professionals: the scammer contacts a real estate agent, usually offering to buy a very expensive property for cash or cryptocurrency
The report states that the potential total loss has grown from $6.9 billion in 2021 to more than $10.2 billion in 2022. So it is not just crypto, it is just that crypto has become more popular when criminals look to fleece the unsuspecting.
The targets of the fraud tend to be older, but when it comes to crypto, that is not necessarily the case.
Also, the report breaks things down by state if you are curious as to how your state is doing in the fraud realm. California ranks at the top of the list for the number of victims as well as for the amount stolen. Investment fraud in California in 2022 was reported at about $870 million – mostly crypto-related.
The by-state report is viewable here.
The complete FBI IC3 Internat Crime report is available here.