FinCEN flags $12.7B tied to Southeast Asia crypto investment scams

The U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has linked approximately $12.7 billion in suspicious financial activity to digital asset investment scams largely run from overseas scam compounds, based on nearly 34,000 reports filed over more than two years. Summary FinCEN linked roughly $12.7 billion in suspicious activity to crypto investment scams after reviewing 33,904 reports filed from September 2023 through December 2025. Money services businesses, mostly crypto firms, filed 55% of the reports and flagged $5.5 billion, while banks reported another $6.4 billion. Scammers used at least 22 digital assets, but proceeds were usually converted into stablecoins and almost exclusively into USDT before being moved through DeFi protocols or overseas exchanges. Older adults appeared in about 25% of reports, while victims across all 50 states funded losses through retirement accounts, mortgages, home equity and personal loans. Many operations were tied to scam compounds in Cambodia, Laos and Burma, where hundreds of thousands of workers have been trafficked through fake job offers. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network said Thursday that its analysis covered 33,904 Bank Secr...