Full story
FinCEN: $13B scam trail
The US Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) tied about $13 billion in financial transactions to digital-asset investment scams “perpetrated by overseas scam centers,” based on an analysis of more than 33,000 reports filed between September 2023 and December 2025.
“identified $12.7 billion in crypto transactions “perpetrated by overseas scam centers.””
FinCEN said the scams included “pig butchering,” romance scams and “cryptocurrency confidence schemes,” and it described the activity as largely the actions of “transnational criminal organizations” based in compounds in Southeast Asia.
Gene Lange, performing the duties of Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, said, "Digital asset investment scams pose one of the most significant fraud threats facing Americans today," as FinCEN warned the figures reflect suspicious activity flagged by institutions rather than confirmed victim losses.
In a separate breakdown of the same FinCEN reporting window, incrypted said FinCEN reviewed 33,904 suspicious activity reports and that the schemes were reported by money services businesses in 18,568 filings, while depository institutions filed 13,810 reports linked to about $6.4 billion in activity.
Southeast Asia crackdown
FinCEN reported that lawmakers in affected countries have been attempting to crack down on the “scam centers,” including Myanmar’s Parliament approving legislation in July that could impose up to life in prison for operators who used violence, torture, and unlawful arrest or detention to force people into participating.
The same FinCEN analysis described Cambodia lawmakers proposing a similar law in April that included possible prison time, while incrypted added that people can be compelled to work in these centers as the operations expand beyond Southeast Asia.
In a parallel enforcement effort described by Criptotendencias, the US and the UK announced an alliance to dismantle global crypto scam centers, with investigations running in parallel and an operation coordinated with the private sector planned for October in London.
Criptotendencias said the alliance is aimed at networks that run large-scale fraud complexes, “muchos de ellos ubicados en el sudeste asiático,” where schemes including pig butchering induce victims to invest in platforms “falsas” until their savings are emptied.
Banks, exchanges, and fallout
FinCEN’s analysis emphasized that disrupting the scams requires more than arresting individual fraudsters, because authorities would need to target the broader financial chain connecting “fake identities,” money laundering operations, money mule networks, shell companies, cryptocurrency transfers and scam centers operating overseas.
“urging financial institutions to be vigilant and report suspicious transactions”
The Crypto Times said FinCEN urged financial institutions to be vigilant and report suspicious transactions, warning banks to watch for stablecoin transfers and shell companies used to launder proceeds, and it described the scams as using fake personas and social-engineering tactics to manipulate victims into moving money into fraudulent crypto investments.
In Singapore, the Straits Times reported a joint operation by police and digital payment token (DPT) service providers that stopped scam victims from losing over $8.94 million, with the police saying the fourth anti-cryptocurrency scam operation took place from July 1 to Aug 31.
The Straits Times also said the police partnered with DPT service providers including Coinbase, Coinhako, DTCPay, Gemini, Independent Reserve, OKX, StraitsX and Upbit, and it quoted the police saying, "The outcome of the fourth operation reaffirms the importance of sustained public-private partnerships and international collaboration in the fight against scams," while noting foreign sharing with the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Cybercrime Squad New South Wales Police Force.