Crypto scams have, over time, moved from operating as isolated hacks to becoming coordinated attack patterns. According to a new report analyzing over 2,500 investigations by AMLBot between 2025 and 2026, crypto scams and thefts have been carried out across different blockchains. The data traced different scams that involved moving stolen funds, attempted freezes, and, in some cases, possible fund recovery.
The data highlighted that freezing assets has acted as the best step in helping to stop losses. In many cases where the funds were still under the control of the attacker’s wallet, about 75% of the assets were successfully frozen.
Freezing typically helps recovery and serves as the main mechanism to contain losses. Recovery was only successful in high-value cases or when stolen assets passed through centralized exchanges or some sort of cooperative service provider.
Also Read: Crypto Scam Ring Leader Sentenced to 20 Years in U.S. Court
The Increase in Investment Crypto Scams and Pig Butchering
Based on AMLBot’s data, investment scams represent the largest category of cases. These schemes rely on false profitability signals, such as staged withdrawals or fabricated dashboards, to convince victims to deposit huge amounts of money over time.
Source: blog.amlblog.com
A particularly damaging variant that plagued the crypto scam market is the “pig butchering” scam. In these cases, attackers spend weeks or months, and maybe even years, building trust with victims through social media or messaging apps before finally introducing a fraudulent investment opportunity.
The prolonged engagement makes the victims more likely to deposit huge amounts due to the trust built over time, and this is often across multiple transactions. The data also revealed that crypto scammers also made use of other methods like phishing and device compromise as means to extort victims.
While losses from phishing or impersonation may be smaller, the frequency and scalability of these attacks have made them a consistent threat to individuals. It also recorded that most of these scammers made use of chat- and voice-based platforms like Telegram, Discord, WhatsApp, Zoom, or phone calls to carry out their operations.
Also Read: Crypto Scam Alert: Why Pig Butchering Fraud is More Dangerous Than Ever, Report
