Almost $6 Billion Lost To Crypto Investment Scams In 2024 – FBI

• Investors went wild on the internet recently when CBEX, an investment platform that claimed to double invested funds in 30 days
• A cybercrime report has shown that billions of dollars were lost to crypto investment scams in the last year
• The report also shows more details about how these schemes operate and how they lure innocent internet users

Legit.ng journalist Ruth Okwumbu-Imafidon has over a decade of experience in business reporting across digital and mainstream media.

After the recent collapse of CBEX, checks from cybersecurity experts revealed that up to $1 million had been invested and lost by people all over the world in the scheme.

In the aftermath, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) has released a detailed report about investment scams.

The report, which covers a 12-month period from January to December 2024, shows that crypto-related scams led to the loss of about $9.3 billion.

Out of this amount, crypto-investment scams accounted for about 50% of the losses, with about $5.8 billion lost in such schemes.

The FBI’s IC3 report shows that total losses traced to internet crimes amount to about $16.6 billion, a 33% increase when compared to the previous year.

This shows that cryptocurrencies now play a major part in all cybercrime losses. In 2024 alone, the body received almost 150,000 complaints related to fraudulent crypto schemes.

The report identified thousands of phishing and investment scam websites, with many more turning up every month.

As cryptocurrency becomes more popular across the world, the law enforcement agents and cybersecurity expert have to update their tools and arm the public against fraudulent tactics.

Report shows how Crypto investment scams operate

The details of this report were covered by Channels News, showing how the investment schemes lure their victims and operate.

One key mode of operation is identified as the pig butchering scam. It is a manipulative scheme, with the criminals faking an online relationship with their victims, and later luring them to invest in fraudulent crypto schemes.

This method often targeted older Americans above 60 years, and led to the loss of over $2.8 billion. The FBI Operation Level Up identified almost 4,300 victims, with 76% unaware that they had been victimised.

According to this report, the most lucrative methods involved in the scams are disguised as investment and financial grooming platforms, with almost $11 billion lost to such platforms in the year.

Emerging methods include QR codes, crypto ATMS, stablecoins and decentralised stablecoin DAI, and some scammers even use AI-generated personas to impersonate online acquaintances or financial experts and advisors.

Investors lose N1.33 trillion to investment scam

In related news, Legit.ng reported that investors lost over N1.33 trillion in an online investment platform.

The platform, CBEX, that claimed to double investors funds in 30 days, suddenly stopped withdrawals without warning.

Investors further got alarmed when, after some days, they discovered their wallet balances had reverted to $0.00.

Source: Legit.ng