Cyber-enabled fraud, ransomware losses spike, FBI reports

Americans were noted by the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center to have reported significantly higher losses from increasingly prevalent cyber-enabled fraud and ransomware attacks in 2025, compared with the year before, according to The Record, a news site by cybersecurity firm Recorded Future.

Total money stolen from cyber fraud, which accounted for 45% of all complaints last year, reached $17.6 billion, with nearly half of the losses attributed to investment fraud, findings from the IC3's 2025 annual report showed. Business email compromise and tech support fraud had the next highest losses. On the other hand, over $32 million in losses have been reported from 3,611 ransomware-related complaints last year, up from more than $12 million in losses from 3,156 complaints in 2024.

Escalated ransomware losses come amid the emergence of 63 novel ransomware variants last year, noted FBI Cyber Division Section Chief Taushiana Bright, who also said the ransomware intrusions have impacted 14 of 16 of the U.S.'s critical infrastructure industries.