Summary
- FinCEN reviewed 33,904 suspicious activity reports from September 2023 to December 2025.
- Approximately 1,300 entities submitted these reports, with crypto services leading in submissions while banks reported the highest dollar amounts.
- Contrary to popular belief, older Americans were not disproportionately affected by these scams.
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has linked around $12.7 billion in dubious financial activities to cryptocurrency investment scams originating from compounds in Southeast Asia, according to an analysis and an alert released on Thursday by the U.S. Treasury Department.
Between September 2023 and December 2025, about 1,300 institutions submitted 33,904 reports, with money services businesses, predominantly crypto firms, accounting for 55% of the filings and identifying $5.5 billion. Banks contributed 41% of the reports, indicating $6.4 billion, while securities firms accounted for the remaining $784.5 million.
Today, @FinCENnews released an alert and analysis regarding financial activities linked to suspected digital asset investment scams. These sophisticated fraud schemes often target American victims. https://t.co/mwZDFmhbvm pic.twitter.com/ZdKRusnL8p
— Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) (@FinCENnews) September 3, 2026
The number of filings increased by an average of 10.9% monthly, with reported amounts rising by 18%. Reports jumped from 590, totaling $485.7 million in October 2023, to 2,482, amounting to $833.5 million by December 2025. FinCEN warns that this rise might reflect broader recognition of the search term introduced in its 2023 alert, and that figures could include double-counted transactions, attempted payments, and filing errors.
Scammers have utilized at least 22 different cryptocurrencies, most frequently Ethereum, USDT, and USDC, while rarely using fictitious tokens. After victims made initial purchases, blockchain analysis typically revealed that funds were converted into stablecoins, predominantly USDT, and funneled through DeFi platforms or exchanges outside the U.S. Additionally, scammers reused collection addresses across multiple victims, allowing some companies to identify patterns in the fraud.
Myriad: Predict crude oil's next move!About 25% of the reports indicated elder exploitation, which is roughly aligned with the 24.4% of the population aged 60 and over, leading FinCEN to conclude that older adults are neither disproportionately targeted nor excessively robbed. According to the FBI, fraud losses among Americans aged 60 and above reached $4.8 billion in 2024, a statistic referenced by senators when proposing the GUARD Act, aimed at funding blockchain tracing for local law enforcement. Victims were reported from all 50 states.
Financial losses were often sourced from retirement accounts, home equity lines, second mortgages, and personal loans. One individual withdrew nearly $640,000 from her retirement funds, while another lost over $1 million within six months.
FinCEN also addressed the risk of self-harm among victims who discover the scams and directed them to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
The scams are primarily operated from compounds in Cambodia, Laos, and Burma, employing individuals numbering in the hundreds of thousands, many of whom have been trafficked through false job opportunities. Interpol has warned that this model is expanding beyond Southeast Asia, and U.S. authorities have seized over $25 million connected to such scams this year alone.
Since its inception in 2015, FinCEN's Rapid Response Program has intercepted $1.8 billion and successfully recovered just over $1 billion for 5,790 American victims.