The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) has released its annual cybercrime report for 2025, and the numbers are staggering: American victims reported losses of nearly $21 billion to cyber-enabled crime — an all-time record and a significant jump from prior years. The report, based on complaints filed directly with IC3, underscores a worsening landscape where cybercriminals are both scaling their operations and targeting victims with increasingly convincing schemes.
Record-Breaking Losses Across the Board
The $21 billion figure represents more than just financial damage — it reflects a structural shift in how cybercrime operates. The key fraud categories driving the surge include:
| Crime Type | Notable Trend |
|---|---|
| Investment Scams | Largest single category; cryptocurrency pig-butchering dominates |
| Business Email Compromise (BEC) | Wire fraud via spoofed executive emails continues to climb |
| Tech Support Fraud | Targeting elderly victims; impersonating Microsoft, Apple, and banks |
| Data Breaches | Credential theft feeding downstream fraud |
| Ransomware | Critical infrastructure attacks with multi-million dollar demands |
Investment fraud — particularly cryptocurrency pig-butchering scams, in which victims are groomed over weeks or months into "investing" life savings in fraudulent platforms — has emerged as the dominant driver of losses. The IC3 data shows that romance and investment fraud schemes frequently overlap, with organized criminal networks running sophisticated, long-term social engineering campaigns.
Business Email Compromise Remains a Billion-Dollar Threat
Business Email Compromise (BEC) continues to be one of the most costly cybercrime categories tracked by the IC3. Attackers compromise or spoof corporate email accounts and redirect wire transfers, payroll deposits, or vendor payments to attacker-controlled accounts. While the per-incident losses in BEC can reach into the millions, the sheer volume of cases across small and mid-sized businesses keeps this category in the top tier of reported damages.
The rise of AI-generated deepfake audio and video is beginning to supercharge BEC attacks — criminals are now impersonating executives in video calls to authorize fraudulent wire transfers, a trend the FBI highlighted as emerging in 2025 incidents.
Tech Support Fraud Targeting Older Americans
Tech support fraud remains disproportionately devastating for older Americans. Victims receive calls or pop-up messages claiming their computers have been infected, then are directed to "support technicians" who ultimately convince them to transfer funds — sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars — to "secure" accounts. The FBI notes that losses per victim in this category are among the highest of any fraud type, as perpetrators often maintain contact with victims for weeks to maximize extraction.
Ransomware Hits Critical Infrastructure
Ransomware attacks targeting critical infrastructure — including hospitals, water utilities, municipal governments, and energy providers — generated significant IC3 complaints in 2025. While ransomware is not always the top category by total dollar volume (due to underreporting and negotiated settlements not captured in IC3 data), the FBI emphasized that attacks on healthcare and public services carry outsized societal impact beyond the direct financial loss reported.
IC3 Complaint Trends
The IC3 received over 800,000 complaints in 2025, a new high. The FBI notes that this represents a fraction of actual cybercrime victimization, as many incidents go unreported due to embarrassment, lack of awareness, or uncertainty about who to contact.
Key demographic findings:
- Victims over 60 filed the most complaints and suffered the highest total losses
- California, Texas, and Florida ranked as the states with the highest reported losses
- Cryptocurrency was involved in losses exceeding $9 billion, primarily from investment fraud
What You Can Do
The FBI IC3 recommends:
- Be skeptical of unsolicited investment opportunities — especially those promising unusually high returns or requiring cryptocurrency payments
- Verify wire transfer requests via a separate, known phone number — never use contact information provided in a suspicious email
- Report cybercrime at ic3.gov — timely reporting aids law enforcement in tracking and disrupting fraud networks
- Enable multi-factor authentication on all financial and email accounts
- Educate elderly family members about tech support scams — the scripts used are highly convincing even to tech-savvy individuals
The FBI's Recovery Asset Team (RAT), which works to freeze and recover funds in reported BEC and wire fraud cases, has maintained a solid recovery rate when victims report quickly — underlining the importance of immediate reporting.
Source: BleepingComputer — FBI: Americans Lost a Record $21 Billion to Cybercrime Last Year, FBI IC3 2025 Annual Report