A total of 113,842 investment scams have been reported through the third quarter of 2025, resulting in losses of $6.1 billion for consumers. That puts this year on pace to surpass 2024, during which a record 121 thousand investment scams were reported, resulting in losses totaling $5.8 billion.
Crypto scams are also occurring more frequently. Through the third quarter of 2025, scammers have collected $1.5 billion in cryptocurrency, up from $1 billion over the same period in 2024. Crypto is the second-largest source of funds for scammers behind bank transfers.
The Motley Fool has compiled the latest data on crypto and investment scams for 2025 below.
What is an investment scam?
Investment scams aim to get individuals or businesses to provide money -- often cryptocurrency -- for an investment that will allegedly generate large returns.
There are many types of investment scams, but they generally lure victims with promises of quick and large profits, only for victims to put up funds that are never seen again.
In this article, we use the terms "fraud" and "scam" interchangeably, as the FTC reports its data in this manner.
Americans lost $5.8 billion to investment fraud and scams in the first three quarters of 2025
Americans lost $6.1 billion to investment fraud and scams through the third quarter of 2025
Through the third quarter of 2025, Americans lost $6.1 billion in investment fraud and scams through 113,842 reported cases. Among those cases, 79% involved a financial loss.
The median loss for investment scam victims over that period was $10,000. That’s up from 2024, when the median loss from investment scams was $9,300 over the course of the full year.
Investment fraud has steadily increased across reported cases, median loss, and total losses since 2020.