The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a division of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, issued an analysis and warning stating that approximately $12.7 billion in suspicious financial activity between September 2023 and December 2025 was linked to cryptocurrency investment scams operated by Southeast Asian-based hubs. The findings are based on 33,904 Suspicious Activity Reports submitted by approximately 1,300 institutions nationwide.
The declared amount has increased to $12.7 billion.
FinCEN stated that the relevant filings primarily come from money service businesses, banks, and securities firms. Among these, money service businesses file most frequently, with the vast majority being cryptocurrency companies, while banks report the highest aggregate amounts.
- Money service businesses submitted approximately 55% of reports, involving $5.5 billion.
- Banks submitted approximately 41% of reports, involving $6.4 billion.
- Securities institutions are involved in approximately $784.5 million.
The report shows that the number and amount of such filings continued to increase during the reporting period. In October 2023, there were 590 related reports involving $485.7 million; by December 2025, this had risen to 2,482 reports involving $833.5 million.
FinCEN also noted that the increase may be related to broader institutional adoption of its search terms, and that the statistics may include duplicate calculations, failed transfers, and reporting errors.
Funds are flowing more toward USDT.
FinCEN stated that the scam group used at least 22 digital assets, with ETH, USDT, and USDC being the most common, and self-created tokens used less frequently. On-chain analysis shows that, regardless of the initial asset purchased by victims, the proceeds from the scams were quickly converted into stablecoins, with nearly all funds flowing to USDT.
These funds were subsequently transferred through offshore exchanges or DeFi protocols. The report also notes that scammers reuse收款 addresses across multiple victims, a key pattern that some institutions use to identify related activity.
Victims span all 50 states across the U.S.
FinCEN stated that approximately 25% of reports involve victims who are elderly, which is close to the 24.4% of the U.S. population aged 60 and older, indicating that older adults do not exhibit a significantly higher victimization rate in these scams.
However, the source of the victimized funds is often directly tied to personal long-term savings, including retirement accounts, home equity lines of credit, second mortgages, and personal loans. Cases cited in the report show that one woman transferred nearly $640,000 from her retirement account, while another victim lost over $1 million within six months.
The park is concentrated in Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar.
FinCEN stated that these fraud hubs are primarily located in Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar. The United Nations previously estimated that hundreds of thousands of people are involved in these operations, many of whom are lured or even trafficked there through fraudulent job advertisements. INTERPOL has also warned that this model is spreading beyond Southeast Asia.
Additional information: U.S. law enforcement agencies have seized over $25 million in assets related to such scams this year. FinCEN also stated that since launching its Rapid Response Program in 2015, it has intercepted $1.8 billion in funds and recovered over $1 billion for 5,790 U.S. victims.