FinCEN Links $13 Billion in Crypto Scams to Overseas Operations

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) said an analysis of more than 33,000 suspicious crypto-scam reports filed between September 2023 and December 2025 found about $13 billion in related financial transactions. FinCEN said $12.7 billion in crypto transactions were “perpetrated by overseas scam centers.” The agency said the activity was largely carried out by “transnational criminal organizations” based in compounds in Southeast Asia, with U.S. residents as the main targets. The report said the schemes included pig butchering, romance scams and “cryptocurrency confidence schemes,” where victims are pushed to invest in crypto through false promises of large returns. “Digital asset investment scams pose one of the most significant fraud threats facing Americans today,” said Gene Lange, performing the duties of Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. FinCEN said lawmakers in some of the affected countries have tried to crack down on the scam centers. Myanmar’s Parliament approved legislation in July that could carry life in prison for operators who used violence, torture, and unlawful arrest or detention to force people into taking part. In Cambodia, lawmakers proposed a similar bill in April that included possible prison time.