Learn why tools like scam trackers and professional expertise are critical to verifying cryptocurrency investment opportunities and protecting yourself from fraudulent schemes that have resulted in billions in losses.
“I’m expecting a payout anytime now!”
“No! No! I can see my investment on a website, everything is fine!”
“The government is fully behind cryptocurrency!”
These are just some of the statements I have heard in my interaction with customers when addressing potential fraudulent investment transactions at my banking institute. As fraud investigators, I’m sure you know what happens next: The website disappears, the so-called “investment advisor” stops communicating, and a payment for taxes must be made for the investment withdrawal.
The above scenarios highlight cryptocurrency investment scams that I have come across within my workload. According to the 2024 Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) Internet Crime Report (IC3), 149,686 cryptocurrency related complaints were filed last year with $9.3 billion in losses. The largest age group filing such complaints were 60 and above. The total complaints involving cryptocurrency investments totaled 41,557, and the FBI reported that cryptocurrency investment complaints were up 29% compared to 2023.
It’s also important to note the quick and efficient overseas scam compounds that have been heavily reported on is exasperating cryptocurrency investment scams at rates that investigators are unable to keep up with. An April 2025 report titled “Inflection Point” from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) notes how criminal enterprises have rapidly developed and expanded fraud networks around the world to facilitate these scams along with many other crimes. Groups are expanding operations now to include "online gambling platforms and software services, unlicensed payment processors and cryptocurrency exchanges, encrypted communications platforms and, most recently, stablecoins, blockchain networks and illicit online marketplaces, often controlled by the same criminal networks.”
As noted in the above reports, conversations with customers have also shown the amazing amount of ways scammers reach out and facilitate crypto investment scams. I’ve been lucky in some cases to walk through what an investment should consist of, and the red flags that can help an individual investor pause and reconsider. But in some cases, the potential payout can be the only hope that a scam has not occurred.
In these tough situations, I wanted to share the following links that can be provided during your interactions that will allow the investor to see if there were any prior reports that would match, and hopefully, get them to ask more questions and verify.
The above trackers are searchable databases that I hope can assist in tough conversations where an investor may not be convinced with your words, but rather, are able to see actual complaints filed by fellow investors to help them better understand their unique situation.
