By Dallas Gagnon
masslive.com
(TNS)
From ransom and kidnapping schemes to impersonation scams, fraudsters continue to find creative ways to separate victims from their money—and the losses can be devastating.
On Thursday, the IRS released its Criminal Investigation division’s FY 2025 Annual Report, identifying more than $10.59 billion in financial crimes between Oct. 1, 2024, and September 2025.
The total represents a staggering 15.7% increase over the same period last year.
“Of the $10.59 billion, $4.5 billion resulted from tax fraud, marking an increase of 111.8% from FY24,” the agency said in a statement.
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Financial crime in 2025: By the numbers
The IRS saw an uptick in several major financial crime schemes, including cyber-related attacks, tax fraud and payroll schemes.
“The number of cases with a cyber component also continued to grow in fiscal year 2025,” the agency said. IRS-CI seized 2.35 petabytes of digital data—a nearly 60% increase from the previous year.
A petabyte is a massive unit of digital information storage, capable of holding millions of songs or years of HD video.
IRS agents also seized more than $800 million in assets and returned $100 million to crime victims.
The agency attributed the rising results to expanded use of technology, new partnerships and intensified investigative efforts.
Enforcement efforts
“The report details how IRS-CI’s approximately 3,000 employees worked to safeguard the global financial system,” the agency said.
IRS CEO Frank Bisignano said the team “combines financial expertise with investigative precision to protect taxpayers and hold criminals accountable,” providing “both a tangible return on investment, while providing for the safety and security of American citizens.”
The agency said time and resource management were major contributors to its success.
IRS-CI dedicated 64% of investigative hours to tax-related crime, using data analytics to uncover tax fraud.
Another 11% went toward narcotics-related crimes, resulting in 447 convictions in FY25, while agents also continued targeting cybercriminals.
Notable cases IRS-CI tackled in 2025
• Feeding Our Future scheme: Multiple defendants were sentenced in what the IRS calls one of the largest pandemic-related fraud schemes in U.S. history. Ringleader Abdiaziz Shafii Farah received 28 years in prison for stealing more than $250 million in federal child-nutrition funds.
• Bitfinex hack: Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan, the married couple responsible for the 2016 cryptocurrency exchange hack, were sentenced for laundering nearly $71 million. Lichtenstein received five years, and Morgan received 18 months.
• Drug trafficking proceeds: Haiping Pan, a Chinese national, was sentenced to 10 years for laundering and attempting to launder $62 million for Mexican drug traffickers.
• TD Bank AML breakdown: An IRS-CI investigation revealed widespread anti-money laundering failures at TD Bank, which allowed more than $670 million in illicit funds to pass through accounts from 2019–2023. The bank pleaded guilty to Bank Secrecy Act and money laundering conspiracy violations and agreed to pay $1.8 billion in penalties.
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©2025 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit masslive.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency LLC.
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Tags: financial crime, financial crimes, income tax scams, IRS, IRS-CI, tax fraud, tax scams, Taxes
TJ Turner December 18 2025 at 8:38 am
Surprisingly, CI didn’t want me. I’ve turned in at least 2 form 211’s, all with substantiated evidence. I’m skeptical of their return on investment when you factor in the cost of litigation and personnel costs? You will need to show me, not tell me!