Disaster Strikes US Citizens, FBI Reveals Horrifying Facts
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - The FBI has revealed horrifying facts related to increasingly ferocious cybercrime that has claimed numerous victims. US citizens reportedly lost nearly US$21 billion (Rp356 trillion) due to online scams throughout 2025.
The majority of detected online scams originated from investment fraud, business email compromise, technical support scams, and data breaches.
The financial losses suffered by US citizens continue to show an upward trend year after year. The US$21 billion lost in 2025 represents a 26% increase compared to US$16.6 billion in 2024.
The US Internet Crime Complaint Centre (IC3) also received a higher number of complaints in 2025, exceeding 1 million, compared to 859,000 complaints in the previous year.
The most frequently received reports involved phishing attacks (191,000 cases), extortion (89,000 cases), and investment scams (72,000 cases), which continue to see surges in losses, quoted from Bleeping Computer, Wednesday (8/4/2026).
There were also other reported methods, though in smaller numbers. For example, serious attack types such as business email hacking (24,700 cases), data breaches (3,900 cases), ransomware attacks (3,600 cases), and SIM swapping (971 cases).
Investment scams contributed to financial losses reaching US$8.6 billion. Meanwhile, scams targeting cryptocurrencies caused the largest losses, amounting to US$11 billion from 181,565 reported cases.
According to IC3, US citizens aged over 60 were the highest-targeted group, with reported losses reaching US$7.7 billion, a 37% increase compared to the previous year.
For the first time, the FBI report also included AI-related scams. There were 22,300 reports of AI scams with losses amounting to US$893 million. These scam schemes involved voice spoofing, profile spoofing, document forgery, and deepfake videos.
In two cases, attackers targeted critical infrastructure such as dams and nuclear facilities. The FBI labelled these incidents as data breaches.
The critical infrastructure sectors most targeted throughout 2025 included healthcare systems, manufacturing, financial services, information technology, and government facilities.
The FBI stated that it has increased efforts to counter attacks, notify victims, and freeze stolen funds in some cases. In fact, some thefts and financial losses were ultimately recovered.
The agency initiated 3,900 Financial Fraud Kill Chain (FFKC) interventions in 2025, successfully blocking portions of fraudulent transactions. From US$1.16 billion targeted by attackers, the FBI froze US$679 million.
Additional efforts took the form of mitigation in the ‘Operation Level Up’ programme. The programme, launched at the beginning of last year, proactively prevents financial losses by identifying and warning victims about potential cryptocurrency investment scams.
Of the 3,780 victims notified last year, 78% were unaware they had become victims of scams.
The FBI advises the public not to rush when receiving urgent requests and facing pressure tactics, and to use all available means to verify the authenticity of communications before sending money or data.
The public who suspect hacking by hackers or scammers are urged to report the incident with full details to IC3.