In June 2025 the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) published its sixth targeted update on how countries apply anti-money-laundering rules to virtual assets and virtual asset service providers (VASPs). The headline number many outlets repeated is stark: one industry participant estimated roughly $51 billion in illicit on-chain activity linked to fraud and scams in 2024. That figure is an estimate, not a court tally — still enough to show the scale of professionalised crypto crime.
The report is less a crime novel and more a scorecard. More jurisdictions say they have assessed virtual-asset risks and chosen a regulatory approach, and more claim to licence VASPs. FATF still flags the gap between paper rules and day-to-day supervision, weak enforcement against offshore providers that solicit local customers, and patchy use of the Travel Rule (sharing sender and recipient information on transfers). Stablecoins now dominate much of the illicit flow the update discusses, which matters if you thought “USDT on a big chain” automatically meant safe.
For ordinary readers the practical takeaway is blunt. Scam networks are industrial: romance-investment hybrids, phishing and approval drains, and “scam-as-a-service” tooling. AI chatbots and deepfakes show up as force multipliers. Licensing theatre on a broker website does not override the FATF picture — check the real supervisor’s register, and treat unsolicited investment chats as hostile until proven otherwise.
The full update is on the FATF site under its virtual-asset publications. Numbers will move; the pattern — uneven regulation plus industrial fraud — is the part worth remembering.
If something already smells wrong — or money has gone — start at Get help. If anyone now offers to “unlock” or “recover” funds for an upfront fee, read Fake recovery first.
This article is for general information only. It is not legal or financial advice. Details change. If you have lost money, contact your bank or card issuer and use the routes on the help pages.