Cryptocurrency scams reached unprecedented levels in 2025, driven by the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence, sophisticated impersonation tactics, and evolving laundering methods.
According to a Chainalysis report, an estimate of $17B was stolen in crypto scams and fraud in 2025, as impersonation scams recorded a massive 1400% year-over-year (YoY) growth. AI-enabled scams were 4.5 times more profitable than traditional scams.
Based on historical patterns, where annual estimates typically grow by an average of 24% between reporting periods, analysts now project that the 2025 total could surpass $17 billion as more illicit wallet addresses are identified in the coming months.
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This surge reflects a rapidly evolving scam landscape. The average scam payment rose dramatically from $782 in 2024 to $2,764 in 2025, representing a 253% year-over-year (YoY) increase. Overall scam inflows have also skyrocketed, driven largely by impersonation-based schemes, which recorded a staggering 1,400% YoY growth.
While high-yield investment programs (HYIPs) and so-called “pig butchering” scams continue to dominate by volume, clear convergence is emerging across scam types. Fraudsters are increasingly blending impersonation, social engineering, and technical manipulation, while leveraging artificial intelligence (AI), phishing-as-a-service tools, and complex money laundering networks to improve their effectiveness.
The Rise of Impersonation Scams
Impersonation scams have become one of the most concerning developments of 2025. In this scheme, fraudsters pose as trusted institutions, public figures, or authority figures to scam victims, which grew more than 1,400% compared to the previous year. The average size of payments made to these scam clusters also increased by over 600%, underscoring both their scale and severity.
Unlike many other scam categories that rely heavily on centralized exchanges to launder stolen funds, impersonation scams have demonstrated a strong preference for decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms. Their laundering behavior has also evolved in waves. In 2024, activity spiked around smart contracts and token-based schemes. In 2025, those patterns shifted toward bridge usage in the first half of the year and decentralized exchanges (DEXs) in the latter half. This constant adaptation highlights how scammers routinely modify their laundering strategies in response to detection efforts and enforcement actions.
AI Intensifying Fraud
A defining feature of 2025 has been the growing role of AI in scam operations. While many scammers acquire AI tools through traditional payment channels, some purchase them directly on-chain, leaving traceable transaction footprints. This visibility has allowed analysts to compare AI-enabled scams with traditional ones, and the differences are stark.
Approximately 76% of scams with verifiable on-chain links to AI vendors fall into the high-value, high-volume category. These scams not only scale faster, with higher transaction rates, but also extract significantly more value. On average, AI-linked scam operations generate $3.2 million each, compared to $719,000 for those without such links—more than 4.5 times as much. AI is enabling scammers to manage more victims simultaneously and make their schemes more persuasive, signaling the industrialization of digital fraud.
According to Will Lyne, Head of Economic & Cybercrime at the Metropolitan Police, he noted that fraud linked to cryptocurrency continues to grow in both scale and sophistication. Organized criminal networks increasingly rely on impersonation tactics, AI-enabled tools, and advanced digital infrastructure. However, he also notes a turning point: international cooperation, specialized capabilities, and improved use of financial intelligence are strengthening law enforcement’s ability to disrupt these networks, seize illicit assets, and reduce harm.
With the surging crypto scams, certain demographics remain disproportionately affected. Older adults in particular face devastating financial consequences. In the United States alone, individuals aged 60 and above lost nearly $4.9 billion to fraud in 2024, according to AARP and FBI data. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) further reported $2.8 billion in crypto-related losses among this age group.
Crypto ATMs have emerged as a key vulnerability. Many elderly victims are instructed to convert cash into cryptocurrency through these kiosks, after which funds are rapidly transferred. On-chain analysis shows that money originating from U.S.-based crypto ATMs often flows into wallets associated with Southeast Asian cybercrime-linked money laundering networks (CMLNs) and guarantee services.
Outlook
The data from 2025 reveal a scam ecosystem that is becoming more professional, efficient, and interconnected. Accessible AI tools, phishing services, and the blending of multiple scam techniques have lowered barriers to entry while increasing the scale of operations. Although enforcement successes provide some optimism, the networks driving these scams remain highly adaptive and persistent.
As digital assets become further embedded in the global economy, the challenge of combating crypto-enabled fraud will demand continuous innovation, stronger consumer protections, and deeper international collaboration. Without these measures, the economic and human toll of scams is likely to keep rising.