Treasury Flags Nearly $13 Billion Tied to Overseas Crypto Scams

FinCEN Analysis Tracks $12.7 Billion in Suspected Activity

The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) identified approximately $12.7 billion in financial activity tied to suspected digital asset investment scams, according to a Sept. 3 announcement. The figure comes from FinCEN’s analysis of 33,904 Bank Secrecy Act reports filed between Sept. 8, 2023, and Dec. 31, 2025, involving individuals across all 50 states and several U.S. territories. The scale of the reporting — tens of thousands of filings spanning every state — underscores how broadly these schemes have reached into the U.S. banking system, and why FinCEN treats scam-center fraud as a priority for financial-institution monitoring.

“Criminals use fake personas and social engineering tactics to manipulate victims, who are often American, into transferring funds to fraudulent digital asset investments,” FinCEN stated, adding: “These scams are largely perpetrated by transnational criminal organizations based in Southeast Asia, which operate industrial-scale scam compounds and leverage vast networks of criminal actors to facilitate and profit from scams.”

The $12.7 billion figure represents suspected financial activity reported by financial institutions, rather than verified losses suffered by victims. Reports can include attempted or unpaid transactions, amended filings, transfers between accounts, and both lawful and illicit activity associated with a reported subject. Separately, the FBI recorded $11.37 billion in victim-reported cryptocurrency losses during 2025, including approximately $7.2 billion attributed to cryptocurrency investment fraud.

Overseas Scam Centers Build Networks Around Victims’ Funds

Transnational criminal organizations, predominantly based in Southeast Asia, operate industrial-scale scam centers that use false identities and social engineering to establish personal or business relationships with prospective victims. According to the report published alongside FinCEN’s scam-center alert, fraudulent websites and applications imitate legitimate investment services, display fictitious gains, and pressure targets into transferring more money. These operations, often described by law enforcement as “pig butchering” schemes, typically combine prolonged relationship-building with fabricated investment returns before victims are cut off from their funds.

Operators also obtain phishing, account creation, and laundering services through online markets known as guarantee marketplaces. Professional money launderers set up shell companies and financial accounts, move funds through networks of money mules, and send proceeds to digital asset exchanges outside the United States. Using blockchain analytics tools, FinCEN found that nearly all scam proceeds ended up in stablecoins, almost exclusively USDT — a finding that places the scam-center problem at the intersection of anti-money-laundering enforcement and ongoing regulatory scrutiny of stablecoin issuers and offshore exchanges.

Federal authorities have pursued the infrastructure supporting these operations through seizures, sanctions, criminal cases, and international cooperation. According to earlier reporting on the enforcement campaign, a federal strike force had frozen or seized more than $580 million in cryptocurrency tied to Southeast Asian scam centers by March. In April, authorities announced another international operation that resulted in at least 276 arrests and the dismantling of nine scam centers. Prosecutors said the alleged networks used fake investment platforms, relationship-building tactics, and rapid cryptocurrency transfers to remove victims’ assets from their control.

Treasury Urges Banks to Watch for Scam-Center Red Flags

FinCEN asked financial institutions to monitor transactions involving suspected scam operators, money mules, shell companies, guarantee marketplaces, and professional laundering networks. The alert also encourages voluntary information sharing under Section 314(b) of the USA Patriot Act and requests that institutions include the key term “FIN-2026-SCAMCENTERS” when filing related suspicious activity reports. For banks, the alert signals that regulators expect transaction-monitoring programs to be tuned to these specific typologies, with the labeled SAR filings giving law enforcement a way to track the issue across institutions.

The alert advances the objectives of a March 6 White House executive order declaring a policy of protecting Americans from cybercrime, fraud, and predatory schemes. FinCEN said Bank Secrecy Act reporting is essential to law enforcement investigations and efforts to recover victims’ funds.

Common warning signs include unsolicited messages, promises of unusually high returns, requests to use unfamiliar investment platforms, and demands for extra fees before withdrawals. Crypto fraud often involves fake exchanges, romance-based investment pitches, phishing attempts, and unsolicited messages designed to gain a victim’s trust. FinCEN urged victims to contact their financial institutions immediately and report incidents to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center or the nearest U.S. Secret Service field office.