The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center just released its 2025 Annual IC3 Report and as the Wall Street Journal noted, the numbers are impossible to ignore. Over 1 million complaints were filed. More than $20 billion in losses. A 26% increase from the prior year. Most alarmingly – almost $900m of those cyber loses is AI related!
For wealth management and asset management firms, this is not background noise. This is a direct look at the threat environment your firm and your clients are operating in right now.
AI Is Now a Criminal Weapon
For the first time ever, the FBI broke out AI-related crimes as their own category. Over 22,000 complaints tied to AI-enabled scams were filed in 2025, with losses totaling nearly $893 million. According to the FBI, fraudulent communications powered by AI can look completely legitimate to even the most trained individuals.
The sobering reality is that criminals are still figuring out how to use AI most effectively. As they improve, the attacks will only get more convincing and harder to stop.
Wealth Is the Target
The FBI’s data tells a clear story. Individuals over 60 reported losses of $7.7 billion in 2025, the highest of any age group, and more than double the losses reported by the next group. This is not a coincidence. High-net-worth individuals in or approaching retirement are being systematically targeted because of their accumulated wealth and the trust they place in the professionals managing it.
Client education is no longer optional. For wealth managers, it is part of your fiduciary responsibility. If your clients do not know what to look for, they are vulnerable. And that vulnerability extends directly to your firm.
What This Means for Your Firm
The FBI report confirms what we see every day at BW Cyber. The threats are real, they are growing, and wealth management firms are squarely in the crosshairs. The firms that come out of this environment intact are the ones investing in protection now, before an incident force the conversation.
At BW Cyber, we work exclusively with asset and wealth management firms to reduce real-world cyber exposure.
Contact BW Cyber to discuss how your firm is positioned against the threats the FBI flagged this year.
