[U.S. FinCEN Links $12.7 Billion in Suspicious Activities to Southeast Asia Crypto Investment Scams] According to a report by Jinse Finance, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued an analysis and alert on Thursday, linking approximately $12.7 billion in suspicious financial activities to crypto investment scams operated out of Southeast Asia. Around 1,300 institutions submitted 33,904 suspicious activity reports, covering the period from September 2023 to December 2025. Currency service businesses, primarily crypto companies, submitted 55% of the reports, involving $5.5 billion; banks submitted 41%, involving $6.4 billion; and securities firms accounted for the remaining $784.5 million. The number of reports grew at an average monthly rate of 10.9%, while the amounts involved increased by 18%. Scammers used at least 22 types of digital assets, with the most common being Ethereum, USDT, and USDC. On-chain analysis revealed that regardless of the asset initially purchased by victims, the funds were almost always converted into stablecoins, nearly all of which were exchanged for USDT, and then transferred via DeFi protocols or exchanges outside the U.S. Scammers also reused recipient addresses across multiple victims, which was one of the methods some institutions used to identify the pattern. The report indicated that approximately 25% of the cases involved elderly individuals, a proportion consistent with the 24.4% of the population aged 60 and above, leading FinCEN to conclude that the elderly were not disproportionately targeted. According to FBI statistics, Americans aged 60 and above lost $4.8 billion to scams in 2024. These operations were primarily based in Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar, with U.S. authorities seizing over $25 million in funds related to these scams this year.