The Federal Bureau of Investigation reported that the number of cryptocurrency fraud cases in 2022 increased by 183%, to $2.57 billion in terms of money. In 2021, that figure was $907 million.

Data from the FBI Internet Crime Report 2022 is based on information obtained from the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). The agency said financial investment fraud claims overall increased 127% from $1.45 billion in 2021 to $3.31 billion in 2022. In 2021, $907 million came from cryptocurrencies.

“Digital asset investment fraud has resulted in an unprecedented increase in the number of victims. Many investors have entered huge debts to cover losses from failed investments in cryptocurrency schemes. Most often, scammers target the age group of people aged 30 to 49 years, ”the FBI experts say.

The agency said that the most common crypto-related crimes are related to the extraction of liquidity, hacking of social media accounts, as well as actions on behalf of celebrities and employees of companies working in real estate and employment. According to the FBI, criminals based abroad scammed their victims of more than $2 billion last year using the above schemes.

Recently, the FBI warned of scammers creating applications under the guise of games on the blockchain, created according to the concept of Play-to-Earn (“Play and Earn”). After downloading such programs, users lose crypto assets.