AI and simulated crypto scams experience record growth in 2025.
Fraudsters and fraudsters are increasingly using phishing scams to outnumber unsuspecting users of stealing crypto last year, with reported phishing incidents increasing by nearly 1,400% year-over-year in 2025, compared to 2024, according to Chainalysis.
Impersonation scams involve fraudsters posing as a trustworthy person or organization to get victims to hand over crypto, passwords, account access and other sensitive information.
The 2026 Crypto Scams report released on Tuesday said fraudsters are incorporating a number of tactics into their operations.
“For example, many pork and investment scams involve impersonation, social engineering and even technical or wallet-focused scams,” he said.
The average amount stolen by phishing scams has increased by more than 600%, which Chainalysis calls “a concerning trend.”
In the year One of the most popular examples of impersonation scams in 2025 involved fraudsters impersonating crypto exchange Coinbase and stealing nearly $16 million from victims.
The Brooklyn District Attorney's Office filed charges in December, alleging that a man was behind the fraud. The defendant pleaded not guilty and pleaded not guilty. A trial date is yet to be set.
AI helps with “industrial fraud”.
Artificial intelligence has made fraud more effective and is part of the “fraud industrialization,” says Chinalysis, where fraudsters use sophisticated tools from sellers determined to trick more victims.
Chainalysis found that frauds using AI were 4.5 times more profitable, operations were more efficient with higher daily income and transaction volume.
“These metrics suggest both high operational efficiency and victim reach. Increasing transaction volume is enabling AI fraudsters to reach and manage more victims at once, a trend consistent with the industrialization of fraud we've been tracking,” he said.
“On the contrary, the increased rate of fraud suggests that AI is similarly making fraud more plausible.”
There is no “silver bullet” to prevent crypto scams.
The increase in fraud has led to an increase in law enforcement measures in 2025. But Chinalysis urged authorities to focus more on preventing damage through improved diagnostic tools and real-time fraud and fraud detection systems by 2026.
At the same time, he said, cross-border law enforcement coordination and support should be allocated more resources to the power institutions and enforcement agencies with low capacity.
Related: International sanctions related to registering flows to illegal crypto addresses
“There are no silver bullets to combat and be effective at such entrenched, industry-wide fraud practices. A multi-pronged response is required.”
“As we move into 2026, we expect fraud methods to increase as fraudsters use multiple methods and technologies simultaneously,” Chainalysis added.
How to deal with fake scams
A group of crypto security experts told Cointelegraph last year that some of the best ways to prevent social engineering scams are to reduce human trust points through actions such as automating defenses.
It is also recommended that you never disclose sensitive information such as passwords or key phrases, as a legitimate company will never ask for them, every interaction and unsolicited message is fraudulent and always checked for authenticity.
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