The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has issued a warning about large-scale cryptocurrency scams originating from Southeast Asia. These scams are orchestrated by organized crime groups that have stolen billions of dollars from victims by convincing them to invest in fraudulent schemes. Once victims are scammed, the criminals often follow up with additional frauds, such as fake "recovery fees," to extract even more money. The stolen funds are then laundered through digital assets, mixing services that obscure transaction trails, shell companies, and underground banking networks in China. According to FinCEN, these scams are not the work of small, disorganized groups but are run by well-structured criminal organizations. These groups are responsible for billions of dollars in losses globally each year. In 2025 alone, U.S. victims lost over $7.2 billion to these scams, and from September 2023 to December 2025, nearly $13 billion was stolen from Americans. The primary locations of these criminal operations are in Cambodia, Burma, and Laos, where large numbers of people are trafficked and forced to participate in online fraud. Victims are often taken against their will, with their passports confiscated and used to control their movements. Those who fail to meet performance quotas may face physical abuse. Some victims have been freed after their families paid ransoms, while others have been forced into commercial sex work. These criminal groups are difficult to dismantle because they are sometimes supported or run by corrupt local officials, making law enforcement efforts more challenging. The most common type of fraud involves investment scams, where scammers pretend to be romantic partners or financial advisors. They often start conversations by claiming they mistyped a phone number. After building trust through extended communication, they encourage victims to make "investments" using cryptocurrencies, promising high returns. These payments typically come through money services businesses (MSBs) that offer digital asset services, such as cryptocurrency kiosks. Scammers often direct victims to open accounts with these businesses and send funds to specific digital wallet addresses controlled by the criminals. After stealing victims’ money, scammers continue their deception by pretending to be law enforcement, banks, or even FinCEN itself. They claim to be investigating or have seized the stolen funds, then demand fees to return the money. In some cases, fraudsters tell victims to buy gold or silver bars and hand them over to couriers for "safekeeping." FinCEN warns that while there are red flags to watch for, no single sign is enough to confirm fraud. Each case must be evaluated in context, considering a person’s financial history, whether transactions match normal business practices, and if multiple red flags are present. The laundering of stolen funds involves three main steps. First, criminals collect the money through digital assets, using bank accounts, money mules, shell companies, or fraudulent MSBs. Next, they obscure the money’s origins by rapidly moving it between digital wallets, using mixing services, and swapping tokens across different blockchains. Finally, they integrate the funds into the traditional financial system by using money mules, transferring stablecoins to offshore exchanges, or routing the money through Chinese underground banking networks.