AI-Powered Scams Raise Crypto Security Concerns as Hackers Shift Focus from Code to People

Cybersecurity threats in the cryptocurrency industry are no longer limited to smart contract exploits and technical vulnerabilities. Artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled fraud, fake identities, deepfakes and social engineering are emerging as major risks. According to Chainalysis data, crypto scams generated at least $14 billion in on-chain inflows in 2025. However, the entire amount cannot be attributed to AI-driven fraud.

How Is AI Changing the Way Crypto Scams Operate?

Criminals are increasingly using AI to create fake identities, impersonate investors and conduct convincing interactions with potential victims. Experts say AI is no longer a separate category of cybercrime technology but is becoming embedded across multiple stages of fraudulent operations. Deepfakes, face-swapping software and large language models can allow criminals to create and operate convincing fake identities at scale.

Chainalysis data indicates that scams with on-chain links to AI vendors involved an average of around $3.2 million per operation, compared with approximately $719,000 for scams without such links. The figures show a correlation between AI-related activity and higher-value scams, but do not establish that the use of AI itself caused the larger losses.