$12.7B Tied to Crypto Scams in Southeast Asia
FinCEN's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has sounded the alarm on a massive crypto scam originating from compounds in Cambodia, Laos, and Burma. According to reports filed by over 1,300 institutions between September 2023 and December 2025, more than $12.7 billion in digital-asset investment scams have been tied to these compounds.
The majority of the reports came from money services businesses, accounting for 55% of the filings, while banks made up 41%. The reports showed that scammers often used Ethereum, USDT, and USDC, with proceeds almost always being swapped into USDT before being moved onward. FinCEN noted that elder exploitation appeared in roughly a quarter of the reports.
The compounds in question are staffed by people trafficked through fake job advertisements, with hundreds of thousands employed. The model is spreading beyond Southeast Asia, according to Interpol. Meanwhile, FinCEN's Rapid Response Program has interdicted $1.8 billion since 2015 but only recovered just over $1 billion for American victims.