Crypto
In February, the FBI warned of a spike in crypto investment romance scams surging around this unofficial holiday.
Valentine's Day
In January, the White House pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the creator of this infamous dark web marketplace that facilitated $183 million in illicit drug sales.
Silk Road
With an average loss of more than $3,500 per victim, this country is where scam victims faced the biggest losses in 2024.
The United States
Europol recently broke up an online criminal ring and seized more than $53 million in cash and cryptocurrency as well as 64 kilograms of this powerful synthetic opioid.
Fentanyl
The ability of AI to create startling realistic images became widely apparent in 2024 after explicit, AI-generated images were posted of this famous pop star on social media.
Taylor Swift
In a crypto pump-and-dump scheme, creators artificially inflate the price of a coin to attract investors, and then do this, causing the price to crash.
Sell off or “dump” their holdings
Available for sale on the dark web is FraudGPT, an AI-driven chatbot that deceives people into divulging sensitive information. It is built on the large language model of this popular AI chatbot.
ChatGPT
According to a recent survey of 1,000 Americans, 30% have been scammed in just the past year, with the highest victim percentage occurring among this generation.
Baby Boomers
In 2024, LegitScript tracked a sharp increase in counterfeit versions of this class of drugs, known by brand names such as Ozempic and Wegovy.
GLP-1s (glucagon-like peptide-1 agonists)
LegitScript has begun tracking transaction launderers who are using new AI-powered software to quickly build custom versions of these for their front operations.
Websites (bank pages)
This meme coin reached a peak of over $14.5 billion in overall market value by Jan. 19, the day before the US presidential inauguration.
The $Trump coin
Do not pass go and do not collect $200. About a year ago, international agents for Operation SpecTor arrested 288 suspects involved in buying or selling drugs on this board-game-themed dark web market.
Monopoly (Monopoly Market)
With the recent fires in Southern California, LegitScript has spotted a spike of this kind of fraud, which often appears on platforms such as GoFundMe.
Disaster relief fraud (or charity fraud)
With growing decriminalization of this psychoactive ingredient, 2024 saw a spike in scam websites pretending to sell magic mushrooms and edibles.
Psilocybin
This entrepreneur is the top target of AI-created deepfakes, which have contributed to billions of dollars in fraud losses in the U.S.
Elon Musk
Last month, French investigators opened a judicial probe into money laundering, tax fraud, and other charges at this, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange
Binance
Aside from drugs, one of the most popular products sold on the dark web is credit card data, which is increasingly stolen using this online technique.
Digital skimming or e-skimming
According to the Global Anti-Scam Alliance, this method is the most common for scammers to contact potential victims.
Text/SMS
The FDA recently warned about supplements adulterated with poisonous yellow oleander. These products — including ones called VitaSlim and New Me — were primarily used for this purpose.
Weight loss
With the recent release of this Chinese generative AI chatbot, researchers have seen dozens of imitation websites used for credential phishing, cryptocurrency theft, and scams.
Deepseek
Last month, more than 300 slaves were freed from crypto scam centers in this country after Thailand’s government cut off electricity, internet, and fuel along the border.
Myanmar
According to researchers, stolen US credit cards with CVV are for sale on the dark web for an average of this amount (plus or minus $10).
$17 (acceptable range $7 to $27)
According to the Global Anti-Scam Alliance, this is the most common payment method used in scams.
Electronic / bank transfer
Often called “the world’s pharmacy,” this country is the largest supplier of unauthorized prescription drugs to rogue internet pharmacies.
India
With AI-cloned voice scams are on the rise, experts recommend that loved ones together come up with one of these to avoid being tricked.
A code word