$12.7B Tied to Southeast Asian Crypto Scams

FinCEN has tied $12.7 billion in suspicious financial activity to crypto investment scams originating from Southeast Asian compounds, according to a report published Thursday.

The analysis covered 33,904 suspicious activity reports filed between September 2023 and December 2025 by over 1,300 institutions, with money services businesses, mostly crypto firms, filing 55% of the reports and flagging $5.5 billion in suspicious activity.

Banks reported 41% of the suspicious activity, totaling $6.4 billion, while securities firms accounted for the remaining percentage, at $784.5 million.

The scams used at least 22 different digital assets, with Ethereum, USDT, and USDC being the most frequently used. Blockchain analysis showed that proceeds from these transactions were nearly always swapped into stablecoins, primarily USDT, before being pushed through DeFi protocols or exchanges outside the U.S.