FinCEN Identifies Nearly $13 Billion Linked to Suspected Digital Asset Scams Operated by Overseas Scam Center

FinCEN published a Financial Trend Analysis and Alert (FIN-2026-Alert005) flagging nearly $13 billion in suspected digital asset investment scam activity analyzing 33,904 BSA reports filed between September 2023 and December 2025 totaling approximately $12.7 billion, with MSBs (55%) and depository institutions (41%) accounting for the vast majority of filings. The alert attributes these "pig butchering"/romance-baiting schemes primarily to Southeast Asia-based transnational criminal organizations operating industrial-scale, often forced-labor scam compounds in Cambodia, Burma, and Laos, which rely on Telegram-based "guarantee marketplaces" and Chinese money laundering networks to move proceeds through stablecoin and shell-company infrastructure before integration into the formal financial system. FinCEN is requesting that related SARs reference the key term "FIN-2026-SCAMCENTERS" and has laid out 16 red-flag indicators spanning victim payments, guarantee-marketplace exposure, and on-chain laundering techniques, while reiterating support for Section 314(b) information sharing and its Rapid Response Program for cross-border fund recovery.