AI-Assisted Fraud Emerges as Major Threat in FBI’s Latest Cybercrime Report

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has, for the first time, formally recognised AI-assisted crime in its annual cybercrime report—highlighting the growing role of artificial intelligence in modern fraud schemes.

According to the FBI’s 2025 report from its Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), losses linked to AI-enabled fraud reached approximately $893 million, marking a significant milestone in how cybercrime is evolving.

AI’s Expanding Role in Cybercrime

The report recorded more than 22,000 complaints referencing AI, although officials believe the true scale is likely higher. Many victims may not even realise that artificial intelligence played a role in the fraud.

The FBI warned that AI-generated content—particularly synthetic text, voice, and video—is becoming increasingly difficult to detect while simultaneously becoming easier and cheaper to produce. This combination is enabling criminals to operate at unprecedented scale, targeting individuals, businesses, and financial institutions alike.

New Tactics, Familiar Crimes

Rather than creating entirely new forms of crime, AI is enhancing existing fraud techniques.

Business email compromise (BEC), for instance, has become more sophisticated through AI-generated emails and voice cloning technology. In 2025 alone, such attacks cost businesses more than $30 million.

Cybercriminals are also using AI-powered chatbots to impersonate executives, while cloned voices are being deployed to authorise fraudulent financial transactions over the phone—adding a new layer of realism to social engineering attacks.

Romance and confidence scams have also evolved, generating more than $19 million in losses. A particularly concerning trend is the rise of “distress scams,” where criminals use AI-cloned voices of family members to deceive victims into sending money. These schemes accounted for over $5 million in losses.

Crypto and Investment Scams Dominate Losses

Despite the rise of AI-assisted fraud, traditional scams—especially investment fraud—continue to account for the largest share of losses.

Total losses from investment scams reached $8.65 billion in 2025, with $632 million confirmed to involve AI. The FBI noted that this likely underrepresents AI’s true impact, as many cases go undetected.

Cryptocurrency-related fraud remains a major driver, with Americans losing $7.2 billion in crypto investment scams alone. These schemes often involve long-term manipulation, where victims are lured through social media, messaging apps, or dating platforms and encouraged to invest in fake trading platforms.

Victims are shown fabricated profits and persuaded to invest more, sometimes even taking loans. When they attempt to withdraw funds, they are asked to pay additional fees or taxes before the scammers disappear entirely.

The FBI also highlighted a growing trend of “recovery scams,” where fraudsters target victims who have already lost money, offering to help recover funds—only to defraud them again.

Organised Crime and Human Exploitation

Many of these large-scale scams are linked to organised criminal networks operating in Southeast Asia. The FBI noted that some operations rely on trafficked individuals who are forced to carry out fraud activities in controlled environments.

This adds a complex humanitarian dimension to cybercrime, highlighting the intersection between digital fraud and human trafficking.

AI Expands Attack Surfaces

AI is also being used in more advanced schemes, including job seeker scams. In these cases, threat actors use AI-generated voice deepfakes during remote job interviews to gain employment within companies, with the goal of accessing internal systems and sensitive data.

Additionally, over 7,600 crypto-related complaints were linked to AI-enabled tactics, further underscoring how the technology is amplifying existing threats.

Record-Breaking Year for Cybercrime

Overall, 2025 marked a record year for cybercrime in the United States. The FBI reported total losses exceeding $20 billion for the first time in the IC3’s 25-year history, with more than one million complaints filed.

This represents a 26% increase compared to 2024, when losses reached $16.6 billion. Investment fraud alone has surged by 89% over the past two years, making it the fastest-growing category.

A New Era of Fraud

The FBI’s inclusion of AI-assisted crime signals a turning point in the fight against cyber threats. As artificial intelligence becomes more accessible, criminals are leveraging it to enhance deception, scale operations, and bypass traditional detection methods.

The agency warned that the emotional and financial impact of these scams can be devastating, particularly in cases involving long-term manipulation or life savings.

As AI continues to evolve, the challenge for law enforcement, businesses, and individuals will be to keep pace with increasingly sophisticated fraud techniques—marking the beginning of a new era in cybercrime.