Americans Lost $11 Billion to Crypto Scams Last Year. Most of It Ended at a Gas Station

Americans reported much than $11.366 cardinal successful cryptocurrency losses successful 2025, according to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, and the bureau logged 181,565 crypto-related complaints overall. A smaller portion of that harm ran done crypto kiosks: 13,460 complaints tied to the machines and $389 cardinal lost, with radical 60 and older accounting for astir two-thirds of the total. “By the clip a unfortunate is astatine a kiosk, they are already heavy successful the scammer’s trance,” said CertiK’s Stefan Muehlbauer, arsenic cities and regulators started treating the kiosks little similar convenience tech and much similar a public-safety problem. Spokane, Washington, moved to prohibition each crypto ATMs, portion Washington, DC’s lawyer wide sued Athena Bitcoin implicit allegations that 93% of its aboriginal DC transactions were fraud.

A grounds twelvemonth for crypto fraud, and a acquainted pattern

The caller fig to beryllium with is this: Americans reported losing much than $11.366 cardinal to crypto-related scams successful 2025. The fig comes from the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, which said the IC3 2025 Annual Report was released connected April 6, 2026.

The aforesaid study logged 181,565 cryptocurrency-related complaints, and said crypto losses made up much than fractional of the $20.877 cardinal successful full internet-crime losses IC3 tracked successful 2025. That is the archetypal clip the bureau’s reported losses cleared $20 billion, a threshold that makes the class harder to disregard arsenic a niche problem.

Investment scams dwarf the kiosk problem

It is tempting to representation the scam arsenic a shady instrumentality successful the country of a convenience store, but the largest enactment point was crypto concern fraud: $7.2 to $7.228 cardinal crossed astir 61,559 complaints, up 25% from 2024. That is wherever a batch of the wealth goes missing, often aft weeks of grooming and persuasion.

Still, kiosks are becoming their ain story. IC3 counted 13,460 kiosk-related complaints successful 2025, tied to $389 cardinal successful losses, and the losses jumped 58% twelvemonth implicit year, per the FBI’s kiosk ailment data. In that subset, victims 60 and older accounted for $257.4 cardinal crossed 6,188 complaints, astir two-thirds of the category’s losses.

When cities and attorneys wide measurement in

Some section governments person decided the machines are not worthy the headaches. Spokane, Washington, became the largest municipality successful the U.S. to prohibition each crypto ATMs wrong metropolis limits aft a unanimous vote, with the prohibition implemented successful June 2025. Detective Tim Schwering summed up what pushed it forward: “Cases started flowing my mode wherever radical were getting ripped disconnected by cryptocurrency machines.”

Spokane Valley followed with its ain unanimous prohibition successful May 2026, citing astatine slightest 10 documented cases of important fiscal nonaccomplishment and 1 confirmed termination linked to kiosk-related scams. Meanwhile successful Washington, D.C., Attorney General Brian Schwalb sued Athena Bitcoin Inc. connected September 8, 2025, alleging 93% of deposits astatine the company’s 7 section Bitcoin ATMs were scam-driven successful its archetypal 5 months operating, positive undisclosed fees up to 26% and refusals to refund victims, per the suit announcement.

The prevention work, and the sheer footprint of the machines

The FBI is besides leaning into outreach. Operation Level Up notified 3,780 imaginable victims successful 2025 and is credited with preventing an estimated $225.9 cardinal successful losses that year, portion of much than $500 cardinal prevented since the programme launched successful 2024.

That effort has to standard crossed a precise American reality: arsenic of mid-2025, the U.S. hosted astir 30,433 Bitcoin ATMs, and a CNBC study successful January 2026 enactment astir 80% of the world’s bitcoin teller machines connected U.S. soil.