AI-enabled scams rose 500% in 2025 as crypto theft goes ‘industrial’

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TRM Labs' latest findings reveal that scammers pocketed $35.00 billion in cryptocurrency throughout last year—a modest decline from the previous year's $38.00 billion. However, fraudsters have clearly evolved their playbook, increasingly leveraging AI alongside corporate-style strategies to deceive victims.Their 2026 crypto crime report, published Wednesday, highlights a striking trend: the deployment of large language models in scams surged fivefold during 2025. Consequently, criminals exploited this technology to broaden their audience, enhance the credibility of their schemes, and operate at an unprecedented scale.Moreover, these sophisticated models enable scams to seamlessly transcend linguistic and cultural barriers. AI-generated imagery, voice cloning, and deepfake videos have made fabricating convincing fake identities both affordable and alarmingly effective.

TRM Labs says $35 billion in crypto was sent to scammer addresses last year as fraudsters scaled their operations with AI and businesslike efficiency.

The use of large language models in scams increased fivefold in 2025, according to TRM Labs, as fraudsters leveraged the technology to boost outreach, make scams more convincing and launch them at scale. 

It comes as $35 billion in cryptocurrency was sent to scammer addresses in 2025, a slight decrease from $38 billion in the previous year, TRM Labs said in its 2026 crypto crime report on Wednesday.  

“Large language models (LLMs) enable scams to cross language and cultural contexts with less friction, while AI-generated images, voice cloning, and deepfake videos reduce the cost of creating convincing personas,” the firm said. 

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