FinCEN links $12.7B to crypto scams run from Asian compounds

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has put a staggering number on the damage done by so-called pig butchering scams: roughly $12.7B in suspected fraudulent transactions tied to digital asset investment schemes, reported between September 2023 and December 2025.

That figure comes from a review of 33,904 Bank Secrecy Act filings, painting a picture of industrialized fraud that touches every US state and territory. The monthly growth rate of reported scam-related financial activity averaged 18%, meaning the problem isn’t just big. It’s accelerating.

Inside the compound economy

Pig butchering is a long-con social engineering play. Scammers build trust with victims over weeks or months, often posing as romantic interests or old friends, before steering them toward fraudulent crypto investment platforms. By the time the victim realizes the platform is fake, the funds have already been layered through a web of wallets and exchanges.

FinCEN’s report identifies transnational criminal organizations based primarily in Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos as the main operators. Many of these groups run physical compounds where workers, sometimes trafficking victims themselves, carry out scams at scale.

These operations are no longer confined to Southeast Asia. FinCEN flagged expansion into South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.

The volume of BSA reports related to these schemes grew by an average of 10.9% per month during the review period.

Stablecoins as the plumbing of choice

The laundering infrastructure behind these operations leans heavily on stablecoins, with Tether’s USDT singled out as the dominant medium. Beyond stablecoins, FinCEN noted the use of shell companies and professional money mules. Funds ultimately flow to exchanges outside the US, where off-ramping into fiat becomes easier to obscure.

Money services businesses, including crypto exchanges and payment processors, accounted for 55% of the reports, covering about $5.5B in suspicious activity. Depository institutions filed 41% of reports but flagged a larger dollar amount at $6.4B.

The victim profile isn’t what you’d expect

One of the more counterintuitive findings in the FinCEN report is that older adults are not disproportionately affected relative to their share of the population. Victims span all demographics, which makes sense given that the initial contact often happens through dating apps, social media, and messaging platforms used across age groups.

The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center reported that US victim losses to digital asset investment fraud hit $7.2B in 2025 alone. For context, the total $12.7B figure in FinCEN’s report covers a roughly 27-month window, meaning 2025 represented a massive acceleration in losses.

FinCEN is urging financial institutions to sharpen their monitoring for red flags associated with these scams and to make better use of existing information-sharing authorities.