Crypto: FinCEN Traces $12.7 Billion Linked to Scam Compounds

33,904 reports and $12.7 billion in suspicious financial activity. FinCEN has published one of the most detailed overviews yet of crypto investment scams. Behind fake investments, online romances and promises of returns are mainly transnational criminal organizations operating on an industrial scale from Southeast Asia. And when the money needs to be moved, stablecoins become almost unavoidable.

Crypto: 33,904 Reports in Two Years

FinCEN analyzed reports received between September 2023 and December 2025. This industrialization echoes the $35 billion sent to fraudulent addresses in 2025, as previously documented by Bref Crypto.

In total, around 1,300 financial institutions submitted 33,904 reports related to possible investment scams involving digital assets. Money Services Businesses, mainly crypto companies, accounted for 55% of the reports. Banks accounted for just 41%, but reported larger amounts: $6.4 billion, compared with $5.5 billion for MSBs.

The increase has been spectacular. The number of monthly reports rose by an average of 10.9%, while reported amounts increased by 18% per month. FinCEN received 590 reports in October 2023, compared with 2,482 in December 2025.

Stablecoins Become the Preferred Rail

The process rarely begins with a sophisticated hack.

A fake contact arrives by text message, social media, a dating site or a messaging app. A relationship develops. Then comes the “exceptional” investment opportunity. Some fraudsters even display fake profits or return small sums to persuade the victim to invest more.

The official FinCEN report then details the flow of the money. Victims often buy their crypto on legitimate centralized exchanges before transferring it to wallets controlled by the fraudsters.

At least 22 digital assets appear in the reports. Ethereum, USDT and USDC are among the most frequent. More significantly, regardless of the crypto used initially, FinCEN says fraudsters almost systematically convert the funds into stablecoins, almost exclusively USDT, before laundering them.

The funds may then pass through multiple wallets, DeFi, different blockchain networks and foreign exchanges.

A Transnational Criminal Industry

FinCEN describes “scam compounds” based mainly in Southeast Asia, supported by professional money launderers, shell companies, money mules and “guarantee marketplaces” offering almost every service needed to carry out a fraud.

This sophistication resembles the networks targeted during the INTERPOL operation that led to 58 arrests across six continents.

Victims may go to extraordinary lengths. FinCEN cites withdrawals from retirement savings, personal loans, mortgage refinancing and even the sale of assets to continue funding a fictitious platform. Institutions sometimes discover the trap only after a large portion of the money has already disappeared.

Washington therefore wants to encourage banks and platforms to share more information and report suspicious patterns. This offensive comes as fake emails and phishing attacks targeting crypto users are also becoming far more credible.

Crypto accelerates the international movement of funds. It also leaves a public trail on blockchains. For authorities, the challenge is now to exploit that trail before the billions pass through enough wallets, protocols and jurisdictions to become almost impossible to recover.