More than 72 million Americans use Cryptocurrency in some way.

A new report is shedding more light on just how vulnerable crypto customers are to scams.

A new report from Nerdwallet sheds light on the staggering impact of cryptocurrency scams.

Just last year, scammers stole more than $9.9 billion in cryptocurrency.

As cryptocurrencies become increasingly integrated into the U.S. financial landscape, investors are advised to be especially vigilant against an alarming rise in cryptocurrency scams.

These scams are a growing concern.

“There was a report by a blockchain research firm called Chainalysis that found that crypto wallets associated with scams brought in almost $10 billion in 2024, and that number is expected to rise in the future,” Investing Expert Sam Taube said.

Many of the scams are not high tech, including phishing, where scammers impersonate a trusted firm to steal payments.

Also, romance scams, where digital con artists build fake relationships to lure victims into investing in crypto and then steal the money.

Another scam that is growing in popularity is what's called a rug pull.

“Sometimes a public figure will launch their own cryptocurrency token and will promote it on social media and draw in a bunch of hype and a bunch of investor interest and the price of the coin rises as people get more interested in it and then the original owners will sell their maximum holdings at the maximum price and they'll rug pull out of the investment leaving investors with a nearly asset,” Taube said.

Experts warn these scams are even worse in cryptocurrencies because it’s extremely tough to get your money back.

“Cryptocurrency networks don't necessarily have the sort of customer support that banks do. As far as being able to claw back fraudulent transactions or anything like that,”

So what can you do to keep your assets safe and prevent being scammed?

Taube suggests investors stick to established cryptocurrencies with a long-term track record.

Research the credentials of the developers behind the crypto and ask questions about the investment.

“One question that's worth asking yourself is why are they asking for the payments in cryptocurrency? Because there's a lot of sketchy answers to that and not a ton of legitimate ones,”