Ransomware Payments Surpassed $4.5 Billion: US Treasury

Ransomware payments to the US Treasury’s FinCEN network surpassed $4.5 billion by the end of 2024, with the highest levels reached in 2023, according to FinCEN’s Financial Trend Analysis report. The analysis shows more than $2.1 billion was paid to ransomware groups between 2022 and 2024, including $1.1 billion in 2023 alone, and between January 2022 and December 2024 there were 4,194 reported ransomware incidents, the most in 2023 at 1,512.

In 2024, 1,476 incidents were reported and payments totalled about $734 million. Akira had the most reported incidents at 376, while ALPHV/BlackCat received the highest amount in payments, roughly $395.3 million, and the report notes that the Tor network remains the preferred method of communication for threat actors, with most groups preferring Bitcoin for payments. The FinCEN report identifies 267 ransomware variants in the received reports.