$12.7 Billion Crypto Scam Tied to Southeast Asian Criminal Networks
The US Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has linked $12.7 billion in suspicious crypto transactions to Southeast Asian criminal networks. The network analyzed 33,904 Bank Secrecy Act reports filed between September 2023 and December 2025.
The scams were run from large compounds in Cambodia, Laos, and Burma, where workers were recruited with fake job offers and forced to contact victims and run the fraud.
FinCEN found that victims across all 50 US states and several territories were targeted. The most common cryptocurrencies involved were Ethereum, Tether USDT, and Circle USDC.
The agency noted that $12.7 billion should not be read as total victim losses, but rather a figure that includes attempted transactions, duplicate filings, and errors.