Report estimates $17 billion worth of bitcoin was stolen in 2025 alone —massive haul arises from impersonation tactics and the use of AI for scams

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Report estimates $17 billion worth of bitcoin was stolen in 2025 alone —massive haul arises from impersonation tactics and the use of AI for scams

Crypto fraud and laundering ring that stole $689 million busted by European authorities

North Korean hackers stole record $2 billion in crypto in 2025, including single heist worth $1.5 billion, report claims

Impersonation scams are at the heart of the aforementioned 2025 figures. Chainalysis recorded a whopping 1400% growth in impersonation scams in 2025 compared to 2024, with average security payments increasing by over 600% (for each scam, the average amount of stolen crypto increased substantially).

A big part of these impersonation scams is impersonation of governmental agencies. Chainanalysis cites E-ZPass scams as one example of this class of fraud, where scammers used fake texts from America's electronic toll collection systems to scam victims out of $1 billion over three years.

AI-powered scams were significantly more effective in 2025, extracting 4.5 times more money compared to conventional social engineering tactics. Chainalysis revealed that average scams with "on-chain links to AI vendors" extracted $3.2 million per op compared to $719,000 without on-chain links. It also recorded higher daily revenue of $4,838 for AI generated scams and $518 for scams without AI. Transaction volume also increased by 9x with the assistance of AI.

Chainalysis reporting matches other reports of increased fraudulent activity in the cryptocurrency space. A few days ago the FBI warned Americans that crypto ATM scams are on the rise and "not slowing down" after reporting that American's lost $333 million to ATM Bitcoin fraud in 2025 alone. 2025 also saw the largest confiscation of crypto in history when the DoJ seized $15 billion worth of Bitcoin from a Cambodian scammer who ran a pig butchering con using forced labor .

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  1. Report estimates $17 billion worth of bitcoin was stolen in 2025 alone —massive haul arises from impersonation tactics and the use of AI for scams
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