Reported cybercrime losses hit new records in 2025. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) logged just over one million complaints and $20.9 billion in losses, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recorded $15.9 billion in fraud losses from 3 million reports. In both datasets, investment scams, often paid in cryptocurrency, caused the largest losses. The fastest growth came from impersonation and tech-support scams and from losses among people over 60.
Official numbers for 2024 and 2025
| Metric | 2024 | 2025 | Change | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IC3 complaints (US) | 859,532 | 1,008,597 | +17% | FBI IC3, 2026 |
| IC3 reported losses (US) | $16.6 billion | $20.877 billion | +26% | FBI IC3, 2026 |
| IC3 investment fraud losses | $6.57 billion | $8.65 billion | +32% | FBI IC3, 2026 |
| IC3 business email compromise losses | $2.77 billion | $3.05 billion | +10% | FBI IC3, 2026 |
| IC3 tech/customer support scam losses | $1.46 billion | $2.13 billion | +46% | FBI IC3, 2026 |
| IC3 government impersonation losses | $406 million | $798 million | +97% | FBI IC3, 2026 |
| IC3 ransomware complaints | 3,156 | 3,611 | +14% | FBI IC3, 2026 |
| FTC fraud reports (US) | 2.6 million | 3 million | +15% | FTC, 2026 |
| FTC reported fraud losses (US) | $12.5 billion | $15.9 billion | +27% | FTC, 2025; FTC, 2026 |
| FTC investment scam losses (US) | $5.7 billion | $7.9 billion | +39% | FTC, 2025; FTC, 2026 |
| Fraud incidents, England and Wales (survey year to March) | 4.2 million | 4.5 million | not statistically significant | ONS, 2026 |
| Fraud victims, England and Wales (survey year to March) | 3.4 million | 3.8 million | +10% | ONS, 2026 |
| Recorded cybercrime cases, Germany | about 333,000 | 333,922 | +0.2% | BKA, 2026 |
| Ransomware attacks reported to police, Germany | 950 | 1,041 | +10% | BKA, 2026 |
Percentage changes for the IC3 crime types and FTC report counts are calculated here from the published figures. The UK figures refer to survey years ending in March 2025 and March 2026. The German 2024 total is derived from the BKA’s reported +0.2% change.
US data from the FBI and FTC
FBI IC3 complaints and losses
The IC3’s 2025 report, published in April 2026, counts more than one million complaints: 1,008,597 in total, up from 859,532 in 2024. The average reported loss was $20,699 (FBI IC3, 2026).
By complaint count, the most-reported crimes were phishing and spoofing (191,561), extortion (89,129), investment fraud (72,984), personal data breaches (67,456) and non-payment/non-delivery (56,478).
By losses, the costliest were investment fraud ($8.65 billion), business email compromise ($3.05 billion), tech and customer support scams ($2.13 billion) and personal data breaches ($1.31 billion).
Two descriptors run across all categories. The cryptocurrency descriptor covered 181,565 complaints and $11.37 billion in losses, up 22% from 2024 and more than half of all reported losses. Artificial intelligence was reported as its own descriptor for the first time, with 22,364 complaints and $893 million in losses.
Older adults are hit hardest. People aged 60 and over filed 201,266 complaints (+37%) and reported $7.75 billion in losses (+59%), with an average loss of $38,500.
FTC Consumer Sentinel fraud reports
The FTC’s 2025 data, presented to Congress in March 2026, shows 3 million fraud reports and $15.9 billion in losses. Imposter scams were the most-reported fraud type for another year, with more than 1 million reports and over $3.5 billion lost. Investment scams caused the largest losses at $7.9 billion (FTC, 2026).
Social media is a major entry point. Nearly 30% of people who reported losing money in 2025 said the scam began on a social platform, adding up to $2.1 billion in losses. Investment scams made up more than half of that total (FTC, 2026).
The FBI and FTC collect complaints separately, and only some cases are reported to both, so their totals should not be added together. Both depend on victims coming forward.
In the UK, fraud is the most common crime people experience
The Crime Survey for England and Wales asks households directly, so it also captures crimes that were never reported to the police. In the year to March 2026 it estimated 4.5 million fraud incidents and 798,000 computer misuse incidents. Neither figure changed significantly from the previous year, but the number of fraud victims rose 10% to 3.8 million, or 7.8% of the population covered by the survey (ONS, 2026). Bank and credit account fraud rose 15% to about 2.8 million incidents.
The ONS’s detailed analysis of the previous survey year shows that most fraud losses are small. About 3 million of the 4.2 million incidents involved a loss, 70% of victims lost under £250, and 11% lost £1,000 or more. Victims were fully reimbursed in 70% of cases where money was lost (ONS, 2026).
Police-recorded fraud and cybercrime figures are temporarily suspended while the City of London Police moves to the new Report Fraud service, which launched on December 4, 2025.
Attacks from abroad and ransomware in Germany
The BKA’s Bundeslagebild Cybercrime 2025, published in May 2026, counts 333,922 cybercrime cases. That is essentially flat (+0.2%), but the mix is shifting. Cases committed from inside Germany fell 4.1% to 126,034, while attacks from abroad or from unknown locations rose about 3% to 207,888 (BKA, 2026).
Other headline numbers:
- 1,041 ransomware attacks were reported to police, up 10%. Known ransom payments added up to about $15.5 million.
- 36,706 DDoS attacks were measured on Deutsche Telekom’s network, up 25%. More than 700 hacktivist attack announcements targeted Germany.
- The industry association Bitkom (cited by the BKA) puts damage from cyberattacks to the German economy at €202.4 billion, €24 billion more than the previous year and about 70% of all damage from theft, espionage and sabotage that Bitkom recorded.
- Police solved 31.4% of domestic cybercrime cases but only 2.0% of cases committed from abroad.
Europol and Verizon data for the EU and businesses
Europol’s IOCTA 2026, published on April 28, 2026, observed more than 120 active ransomware brands in 2025. It describes extortion moving away from encryption toward pure data theft, and AI making fraud more scalable and convincing (eucrim, 2026).
Verizon’s 2026 Data Breach Investigations Report analyzed more than 22,000 confirmed breaches. For the first time in the report’s history, exploited software vulnerabilities (31% of breaches) overtook stolen credentials as the top entry point (Verizon, 2026). Further findings reported by Help Net Security (2026):
- Ransomware was present in 48% of breaches, up from 44%, but 69% of ransomware victims did not pay.
- Breaches involving a third party also reached 48%.
- The human element (errors, phishing, misuse) played a role in 62% of breaches.
The fastest-growing threats
Measured by growth in reported US losses between 2024 and 2025:
- Government impersonation scams: losses nearly doubled (+97%) to $798 million.
- Elder fraud: losses for people 60+ rose 59% to $7.75 billion.
- Tech and customer support scams: +46% to $2.13 billion.
- Investment fraud: +32% to $8.65 billion, the largest category in absolute terms.
- Phishing/spoofing: losses roughly tripled (from $70 million to $216 million), even though complaint numbers were flat.
Ransomware losses reported to the IC3 rose from $12.5 million to $32.3 million. The FBI notes that this figure leaves out most business costs, such as downtime and recovery, so the real cost is much higher.
Practical advice
- Be most wary of “investment opportunities,” the single most expensive scam type in both US datasets, and of anyone you met online who steers you toward crypto platforms or trading apps.
- Verify every unexpected contact from “the bank,” “the government” or “tech support.” Hang up and call back using a number you look up yourself. Real agencies do not ask for payment in gift cards, crypto or wire transfers.
- Talk with older relatives. People over 60 lose the most per case, and a quick check-in before any large transfer can stop a scam.
- Treat social media ads and DMs as untrusted, since nearly 30% of US scam victims who lost money said the scam started there.
- Report scams at ic3.gov and ReportFraud.ftc.gov in the US, or to Report Fraud in the UK. Reports feed these statistics and the FBI’s asset-recovery efforts.
Methodology
All figures come from the primary publications listed in the sources: the FBI IC3 annual reports for 2024 and 2025 (PDFs), FTC press releases and congressional testimony, ONS statistical bulletins, the BKA Bundeslagebild Cybercrime 2025 (PDF), Europol’s IOCTA 2026 (via the eucrim summary) and Verizon’s DBIR 2026 announcement. Calculated percentage changes are rounded to whole numbers.
The IC3, FTC and German police data only count crimes that victims report. The UK survey estimates unreported crime, but it covers individuals, not businesses. Each country defines and counts cybercrime differently, so the totals cannot be ranked against each other. US data is by calendar year, while UK survey years run April to March. Bitkom’s €202.4 billion damage estimate comes from a business survey, not from police records.
2023 IC3 complaint totals are left out because they could not be extracted reliably from the source PDFs. Action Fraud recorded-crime figures for 2025 and 2026 are left out because publication is suspended.