US Treasury Warns Financial Institutions Over $12.7 Billion in Suspected Crypto Fraud

The US Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has called on banks, credit unions, cryptocurrency exchanges, and securities firms to enhance reporting of suspicious transactions linked to overseas scam centers.

According to data cited by TechRadar, FinCEN analyzed 33,904 bank secrecy law reports from September 2023 through December 2025, totaling approximately $12.7 billion in suspected fraud-related transactions. However, this figure does not represent confirmed losses; it includes both attempted and completed transactions, with potential duplicate reporting of the same fund movements.

FinCEN introduced a new reporting keyword 'FIN-2026-SCAMCENTERS' to flag possible involvement of overseas scam centers. Financial institutions are now required to submit additional details such as chat logs, scammer phone numbers, social media accounts, cryptocurrency wallet addresses, transaction hashes, and related URLs.

The focus is on connecting fragmented transaction data across financial institutions. Banks may only see transfers to exchanges, while exchanges track crypto purchases and external transfers—making it difficult to trace the full flow of criminal funds without cross-institutional collaboration. FinCEN encourages voluntary information sharing in line with legal requirements.

FinCEN’s Rapid Response Program has blocked $180 million in fraud-related funds since 2015, recovering over $1 billion for 5,790 victims nationwide. However, these figures include various types of cyber financial crimes, not limited to cryptocurrency investment scams.