AI helped drive increase in crypto scam losses to $17bn in 2025

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In 2025, cryptocurrency scams received at least $14 billion on-chain but the figure could exceed $17 billion, says Chainalysis, as it identifies more illicit wallet addresses in the coming months. That would represent a significant increase on the $12 billion lost in 2024.

The average scam payment has soared from $782 in 2024 to $2764 in 2025. Overall scam inflows have also surged, particularly through impersonation tactics that saw a staggering 1400% year-over-year growth.

While high-yield investment programmes and pig butchering remain dominant categories by volume, Chainalysis says it is seeing increasing convergence across scam types as fraudsters leverage AI, sophisticated SMS phishing services, and complex money laundering networks to target victims more effectively than ever before.

AI-enabled scams were 4.5 times more profitable than traditional scams last year: on average, scams with on-chain links to AI vendors extract $3.2 million per operation compared to $719,000 for those without an on-chain link.

And, the technology is set to become dominant, predicts the report: “We are moving toward a future in which virtually all scams will incorporate AI into their operations to some degree.”

While losses are increasing and scammers are becoming more sophisticated, Chainalysis notes that last year also saw record seizures from law enforcement.

In November, the UK’s Metropolitan Police secured convictions in a landmark money laundering case that led to the world’s largest confirmed crypto seizure, recovering over 61,000 Bitcoin — currently valued at around £5 billion. Meanwhile, a $15 billion seizure linked to the Prince Group criminal organisation showed improved transnational capability to combat crypto fraud.