AI is fueling a surge in crypto fraud schemes, IRS investigators say

U.S. AI is fueling a massive surge in crypto fraud schemes, IRS investigators say By Anna Schecter, Anna Schecter Senior Coordinating Producer, Crime and Public Safety Unit Anna Schecter is the senior coordinating producer for CBS News and Stations' Crime and Public Safety Unit, based in New York. Read Full Bio Anna Schecter, Deanna Marie Lowe April 23, 2026 / 6:00 AM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google Kyle Holder's entire life savings were stolen from her by sophisticated scammers who used artificial intelligence to perfectly manipulate her. Her $300,000 in retirement and savings accounts, saved over decades, disappeared into the cryptocurrency universe in under three months.Holder was one of thousands of Americans swindled out of a total estimated at $20 billion by way of cyber theft in 2025, according to the FBI. More than half of those funds were in cryptocurrency.The first message came in around Christmas 2024 via WhatsApp, a popular messaging app that Holder used to communicate with family and friends in the United States, Canada and Israel. The message offered coaching on how to invest in the crypto market.Holder, 73, had been an occupational therapist, but an injury made that untenable, so she was intrigued by the idea of investing from home."I just thought maybe this was a way that I could use my time, start something new and make money, to carry me into my older years," she told CBS News on a park bench near the assisted living facility she's had to move into, paid for by Medicaid. Holder says she replied to the message asking for more information. Someone who called herself Niamh responded, and started asking about her life.The anatomy of the scamHolder recalled thinking she and Niamh had become friends. "She said she's a single parent and I thought I'm a single parent. She was always asking about me. And then she would say, 'Is the money being transferred?'" Kyle Holder exchanged messages with a scammer who went by the name Niamh, and eventually...