The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has released its 2025 Internet Crime Report, detailing a significant increase in cybercrime activities and financial losses worldwide. The report indicates that global losses linked to cybercrime activities in 2025 surged past $20 billion.
Investment scams remained the most significant contributor to these losses, followed closely by business email compromise (BEC) and tech support fraud. The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) has seen a substantial rise in reported incidents, now receiving nearly 3,000 complaints daily.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly being weaponized by criminals, leading to over $893 million in losses in 2025. The IC3 received 22,364 complaints related to AI-driven cybercrime activities during the year. These AI-enabled scams are becoming more sophisticated, utilizing synthetic content like fake social media profiles, voice recordings, and video materials to deceive victims.
Specific AI-related fraud schemes include AI chat generators creating convincing emails impersonating executives, leading to over $30 million in losses from AI-linked BEC scams. AI-generated profiles and scripts built trust with victims, resulting in over $19 million in losses from such scams. Distress scams, employing voice cloning of family members, accounted for over $5 million. Investment scams, a major category overall, saw over $632 million in losses attributed to AI, with total investment scam losses exceeding $8 billion.
Furthermore, AI is being used for voice spoofing and deepfake technology during online interviews to gain access to corporate systems, with victims reporting nearly $13 million in losses from these schemes. Initiatives like Operation Level Up have shown success, helping to reduce potential losses from crypto-related scams by over $500 million since 2024.
The report also provided a breakdown of countries with the highest number of IC3 complaints in 2025. Canada led with 7,479 complaints, followed by India with 5,879, and Japan with 5,764. The United Kingdom reported 4,106 complaints, while Germany had 3,056. Nigeria was listed with 1,219 complaints.
In a separate but related case, U.S. authorities have charged two UK-based Nigerian nationals, Akinade Adedeji Raheem and Abayomi Quadri Eletu, over an alleged $100 million IRS fraud scheme. The indictment unsealed on Wednesday alleges they orchestrated a multi-year conspiracy involving mail and wire fraud, money laundering, and aggravated identity theft between 2018 and 2023. They are accused of filing over 300 fraudulent tax returns using stolen identities to claim refunds exceeding $100 million.
