FinCEN Ties $12.7 Billion to Crypto Scams Run From Asian Compounds

The U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network said financial institutions reported activity tied to more than $12.7 billion in digital-asset investment scams run largely from compounds in Cambodia, Laos and Burma. FinCEN published an alert and analysis this week based on 33,904 reports covering September 2023 through December 2025, according to Decrypt’s report on the figures.

The Scale of the Filing Data

Some 1,300 institutions filed the reports. Money services businesses, mostly crypto firms, filed 55% and flagged $5.5 billion, while banks filed 41% and flagged $6.4 billion; securities firms accounted for the remaining $784.5 million. Monthly reported sums rose 18% on average, from 590 reports worth $485.7 million in October 2023 to 2,482 worth $833.5 million in December 2025. FinCEN cautioned that the climb may partly reflect wider adoption of the search term from its earlier 2023 alert.

Where the Money Flows

Scammers used at least 22 digital assets, most often Ethereum, USDT and USDC, and rarely relied on invented tokens. Blockchain analysis showed proceeds were almost always swapped into stablecoins, almost exclusively USDT, before being moved onward. FinCEN also noted elder exploitation appeared in roughly a quarter of the reports, and it pointed victims to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline given the self-harm risk after a fraud is discovered.