According to a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) analysis, consumers reported losing more than $1 billion to crypto fraud from January 2021 to March of this year.
- The average amount lost was $2,600, the FTC said, citing 46,000 people who reported being scammed. The top three cryptocurrencies consumers said they were "scammed" with were Bitcoin (BTC) at 70%, Tether (USDT) at 10%, and Ether (ETH) at 9%.
- "Cryptocurrency is quickly becoming the preferred payment method for many fraudsters," the FTC said, noting that about one in four dollars lost to fraud is paid with cryptocurrencies.
- Most of the scams involve false investment schemes, while romance scams and scams posing as businesses or the government round out the top three.
- Those aged 20 to 49 were more than three times as likely to report losing money to a scam as older age groups.