FinCEN cites $12.7 billion in crypto-scam activity but headline overstates what data establish

Posted 9/3/26

FinCEN’s $12.7 billion headline is less a measure of verified scam losses than an aggregate of activity that financial institutions considered suspicious. For AML teams, the actionable finding is not the dollar figure but the recurring combination of victim behavior, rapid crypto conversion, shared wallets and layered transfers that can help distinguish ordinary cryptocurrency activity from scam payments and laundering.

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