Stay Safe Online: AI-Enhanced Fraud and Cryptocurrency Scams
As we’ve become more connected through technology, there’s a good chance that a lot of your personal information is stored or shared digitally. Criminals are always looking for opportunities to access and exploit personal information, so it’s important to know how to protect yourself online.
As artificial intelligence, or AI, becomes easier to use, online scams may be harder to recognize. AI-powered tools can be used by criminals to create fake or misleading content, including messages, images, voices, videos, websites, and identities. These are only some of the ways AI can enable fraud.
According to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, overall reported losses from cyber-enabled crimes increased 33% from 2023 to 2024 and 37% from 2024 to 2025. In 2025, reported losses totaled nearly $20.9 billion. AI-related complaints accounted for more than $893 million of the reported losses, while complaints involving cryptocurrency accounted for nearly $11.4 billion.
The bottom line: It’s harder than ever to tell whether something online is real or fake.
Below, we explain how common scams work, how AI can make them more convincing, the warning signs to watch for, and how to report suspected fraud.
AI-powered phishing emails, text messages, and calls
Phishing is a common scam in which a criminal pretends to be a person, company, or organization you trust to steal sensitive information or money. AI can make these attacks harder to detect.
A phishing message may look like it came from your bank, employer, insurance company, government agency, postal service, or another person or organization you trust. Scammers may send false warnings about an undelivered package, unpaid ticket, suspicious account activity, or compromised password.
In the past, phishing messages were easier to spot because they often contained spelling and grammar mistakes. AI can help scammers create polished messages that look like they’re from a trusted person or company.
How can you detect a phishing attack?
A suspicious sender address: The display name may look familiar, but the email address could include an extra letter, misspelled word, or incorrect domain.
For example, someone impersonating AlfaInsurance.com might create a website using the domain: AlfasInsurance.com. At first glance, the websites may look the same. When you take a closer look, there is an “s” in the middle of the domain name, AlfasInsurance.com.
Urgency or pressure: Scammers want you to act before you have time to think. A phishing message might say something like, “Your account has been compromised. Act immediately to secure your account,” before asking for your username, password, or payment information.
Suspicious links or attachments: Do not click a link, open an attachment, or download a file from a message you cannot verify.
Never interact with a message you are unsure about. If you think it may be real, contact the company by searching for their official website or phone number on your own. Do not use the contact information included in the suspicious message.
AI voice-cloning phone scams
Scam calls have been around for a long time, but voice cloning can make them far more convincing. Criminals may collect voice samples from social media posts, reels, videos, earnings calls, news interviews, and other online recordings. They can then use AI to create audio that sounds like someone you trust, such as a family member, employer, company executive, or IT representative.
Scammers can spoof phone numbers or caller ID to make the call appear to come from someone you know. They often pretend there is a family emergency or an urgent work request. The caller may claim to be stranded, injured, arrested, locked out of an account, or facing another emergency. Secrecy, urgency, and a demand for immediate payment are major warning signs.
How can you protect yourself from voice-cloning scams?
Families and businesses can establish a password or other way to confirm an identity for emergency calls, payments, account changes, and other sensitive requests. If you receive an unusual call, hang up and contact the person using a phone number you already know. Do not use a number provided during the call. If you believe a loved one is in danger, contact emergency services immediately.
AI-powered non-delivery scams
Non-delivery scams are not the same as “package not delivered” phishing messages. In a non-delivery scam, you pay for a product or service that never arrives.
AI makes it easier to create fake products, advertisements, rental listings, company websites, and online storefronts. A scammer may pretend to be a real company and advertise everything at a steep discount.
Remember: If an offer seems too good to be true, it probably is.
How can you avoid a non-delivery scam?
- Check the URL carefully before entering personal or payment information.
- Research the seller, company, or listing through sources they did not provide.
- Avoid wire transfers, gift cards, and cryptocurrency, which can be difficult to track or recover. When possible, use a payment method that offers buyer protection.
AI romance scams and deepfake videos
Romance scams have existed for years, but AI allows criminals to create more believable identities and target more people. A scammer can use artificial intelligence to create profile photos, build an entire personality, create personal messages, clone voices, and alter or animate videos. Real-time deepfake technology may even allow a scammer to video chat while looking and sounding like someone else.
Warning signs include repeated excuses for not meeting in person, requests involving money, and pressuring you emotionally. Be cautious if someone you meet online asks for financial help, cryptocurrency, account information, travel expenses, emergency funds, or money for an investment. A scammer may try to make you feel guilty for asking questions, setting boundaries, or not sending money.
Cryptocurrency scams
Cryptocurrency-related fraud is one of the fastest-growing and most costly forms of cybercrime, accounting for over half of all reported losses for cybercrimes in 2025. The FTC warns that only scammers demand payment in cryptocurrency. A legitimate company or government agency will not demand cryptocurrency payments.
What is cryptocurrency?
Cryptocurrency, or “crypto” is a type of currency that generally exists only digitally. Like stocks and other investments, their value can rise or fall, sometimes sharply within a short period of time. Cryptocurrency is not protected in the same way that U.S. dollars held at an FDIC-insured bank are protected.
How do cryptocurrency scams work?
A cryptocurrency scam may try to convince you to:
- Send cryptocurrency directly to a criminal
- Deposit money into a fake investment platform
- Give someone access to your digital wallet
- Reveal your password, private key, or seed phrase
- Pay a false bill, fine, fee, tax, or emergency expense
For example:
You invest $500 and then see that your investment is now worth $15,000. When you try to withdraw the money, the platform may demand $3,000 in taxes or fees. The profit is fake. Paying another fee will not let you withdraw the money.
OR
You think you’re getting a great deal on a product or service, but you are only given the option to pay in cryptocurrency.
Cryptocurrency investment scams
A cryptocurrency investment scam may begin with a fake celebrity or technology leader endorsement, an AI-generated video, a social media advertisement, or an unexpected message. You may also find one while searching for an investment opportunity. Scammers often move conversations to platforms such as WhatsApp, Discord, or dating sites before directing victims to fraudulent investments. A professional-looking platform, advertisement, or online investment group does not prove that an opportunity is real.
Often times, criminals develop an online friendship, professional connection, or romantic relationship with victims before introducing a fake cryptocurrency investment. The victim may be coached to invest more money while a fake platform displays false profits. When the victim tries to withdraw the funds, the scammer demands additional taxes or fees.
Do not trust anyone who promises you can quickly and easily make money in cryptocurrency markets or pressures you to act quickly.
Cryptocurrency recovery scams
After a cryptocurrency investment scam, criminals may target victims again while impersonating law enforcement officers, FBI employees, cybersecurity professionals, or recovery companies. They may claim they can recover the lost funds if you pay them first. Do not do this. Anyone who tells you that they can help you get your money back if you pay them is not going to help you.
The FBI’s Operation Level Up is a legitimate program that works to identify and notify people who may be actively involved in cryptocurrency investment scams. However, criminals have been known to impersonate the FBI and pretend to represent the program. Law enforcement will never ask you to pay to recover lost funds or refer you to a company that requires a recovery payment. Unfortunately, recovering money lost in a cryptocurrency scam is very unlikely.
If you have been targeted in a cryptocurrency investment scam, you should report it immediately to the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).
How to report internet scams
New scams appear every day, and AI is making some of them easier to create and harder to recognize.
If you believe you are being targeted by a scam, stop communicating with the suspected scammer. If you sent money or shared financial information, contact your bank, credit card company, payment provider, or cryptocurrency exchange immediately.
Save any evidence, including emails, text messages, phone numbers, usernames, website addresses, receipts, transaction records, and screenshots.
You can report internet scams and fraud to:
Depending on the situation, you may also report the scam to:
- IdentityTheft.gov, if your identity or personal information was stolen.
- The Commodity Futures Trading Commission for certain commodity or cryptocurrency complaints.
- The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for suspected securities or investment fraud, contact the
- Your state Attorney General’s office for fraud affecting residents of your state.
- Your local law enforcement agency for local scams or immediate safety concerns.
Report the situation even if you did not lose money or are unsure whether it was a scam. Your report may help investigators solve a case or stop a scam from reaching more people.