Crypto fraud has become one of the fastest-growing financial threats in the U.S.
According to Federal Trade Commission data, last year alone, Americans lost billions to scams, from fake investment platforms to generative AI fraud. The losses are huge, and the targets are often people who never planned to invest in crypto at all.
Here are the three common crypto scams costing thousands of people billions so you can avoid becoming the next victim.
Pig Butchering
Pig butchering is a scam that has been around for decades. Fraudsters often build trust with the target, often via a dating app or social network, before pitching a high-return crypto investment. They position themselves as financially successful, eventually introducing fake crypto investment opportunities.
It’s called pig butchering because the scammer fattens the pig by convincing the victim to deposit more money to the account they believe they’re investing in. The butchering happens when the scammer disappears and the victim loses all the money.
In April 2025, a Maryland woman lost millions in a crypto pig butchering scam, per CBS News. The FBI announced that Operations Level Up had notified 5,831 victims of cryptocurrency investment fraud, where 77% of them were unaware of being scammed.
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AI Deepfakes
This is the newest scam, where fraudsters use AI-generated video or audio to impersonate celebrity CEOs and influencers in order to trick unsuspecting victims into shady cryptocurrency investments. AI is making such forgeries look real, convincing victims to take action. This has been on the rise in both the crypto space and traditional finance.
In most cases, scammers run video ads on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube. The video can be of Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, and other celebrities like Ryan Reynolds, Oprah Winfrey and Vince Gill, among others.
According to Bitget, crypto scam losses skyrocketed to $4.6 billion in 2024 due to deepfake technology. And most of the victims appear to be elderly.
Crypto ATMs
Crypto ATM scams often begin with a fraudulent call or a message, impersonating your bank or government agency. They’ll tell you that your money or investments are at risk and you need to withdraw and deposit them in a safe crypto wallet in a nearby ATM. The wallet belongs to the scammer, and once you deposit, you won’t get your money back.
Fraud losses at crypto ATMs have risen from $12 million in 2020 to over $110 million in 2023, and already at $65 million in the first half of 2024, according to the Federal Trade Commission. And this is very common for people aged 60 and above.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 3 Crypto Scams That Are Costing Americans Millions Right Now
