Chainalysis: Scams cause $17 billion in crypto losses in 2025
It is estimated that up to 17 billion USD worth of crypto has been lost due to scams and fraud in 2025, according to the latest report from blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis.
The Crypto Crime Report 2026, published on January 13, states that criminals are ramping up impersonation schemes and leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to “industrialize” the victim hunting process. Impersonation, fake exchanges, and AI-generated content used in scams are gradually surpassing traditional cyberattacks, becoming the main methods of asset theft.
A typical example in the United Kingdom: in 2025, a man lost nearly 2.5 million USD in a Bitcoin scam. Police describe this as a “concerning new trend,” where scammers exploit fear and panic, using sophisticated manipulation scripts capable of deceiving even cautious asset holders, according to North Wales Police’s response to BBC.
According to North Wales Cyber Security Unit, from 2020 to the end of 2023, nearly 100,000 people in the UK fell victim to investment scams, with total losses reaching approximately 2.6 billion GBP (roughly 3.5 billion USD), equivalent to about 13 million GBP (17.5 million USD) per week. This figure only reflects reported cases, so actual losses are likely much higher.
According to Chainalysis, such stories are no longer isolated. Specifically, impersonation scams have seen a 1,400% increase compared to the same period last year. The average amount stolen per incident has also risen sharply, as criminals shift from “spray and pray” tactics to more targeted attacks with higher value. Notably, AI-assisted scams generate profits 4.5 times higher than traditional scams, thanks to deepfake technology and automation tools that create numerous “support staff,” “official notifications,” or “trusted insiders” impersonations.
This shift is particularly significant because it clarifies the source of large crypto losses. While hacks remain a persistent threat — Chainalysis recorded nearly 2.2 billion USD stolen in 2024 — scams increasingly rely on a more difficult-to-‘patch’ factor than smart contracts: human trust.
Lior Aizik, co-founder and COO of crypto exchange XBO, states that this trend aligns perfectly with what he has observed in practice. He warns users never to share sensitive data, even when they believe they are dealing with official support. “Never transfer crypto to anyone. If a message is urgent or asks for secrecy, it’s almost certainly suspicious,” Aizik said.
According to Aizik, he himself has been impersonated multiple times. “Scammers use my name, create fake profiles to contact individuals in the industry, and request transfers, pretending to represent XBO. These attacks rely on urgency and trust, not technology.”
Chainalysis data shows that this core issue is at the heart of today’s wave of crime: crypto criminals are no longer just exploiting technical vulnerabilities or hacking into systems, but increasingly engaging in scams that are convincingly real enough to bypass vigilance, even when wallets and exchanges follow all security protocols.
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