GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) – The FBI says people lost nearly $250 million to cryptocurrency ATM scams in 2024.
This is more than double the previous year.
People lose thousands of dollars a day on cryptocurrency machines due to romance scams, imposter scams, or financial scams.
An investigation by ABC’s Good Morning America showed a police lieutenant and a bystander helping a woman who was scammed.
Fran Bates was loading tens of thousands of dollars of her savings into a Bitcoin ATM when she was approached.
Lieutenant James Stewart: “Can I talk to you for a second?”
Women: “Please, I have the bank on the phone.”
Lieutenant Stewart: “Okay, let me talk to whoever you’re talking to.”
Women: “And I’m in danger.”
Lieutenant Stewart: “OK, stop putting money in this.”
Applicant: “It’s the security team.”
Lieutenant Stewart: “No, it’s not.”
The scammer convinced the 85-year-old that her bank account had been hacked and that, for her safety, she had to put her money into a machine she had never seen before.
Bitcoin machines, or crypto ATMs, are found at gas stations, supermarkets, shopping malls and liquor stores.
Consumer First Alert spoke with an AARP Wisconsin specialist about how the nonprofit is work to educate people to spot and stop this crime.
“These cryptocurrency ATMs are popping up all over the state,” Courtney Anclam said. “I think sometimes people think that crime and scams only happen in big cities, but these machines are everywhere in the state, whether it’s urban or rural.”
In a first-of-its-kind investigation, the Iowa Attorney General’s Office found that Iowans lost more than $20 million on Bitcoin machines in less than three years.
They claim that almost 97% of the transactions were scams.
Iowa says companies operating these machines take advantage of scam victims, earning up to 23% on each transaction.
Earlier this year, Consumer alert first reported new regulations in Wisconsin attempt to combat this crypto-ATM crime, including a $2,000 per day transaction limit and scam warnings posted on machines.
But AARP says that’s not enough.
“Criminals are sort of finding workarounds, forcing people to deposit just under a thousand dollars, but then having to do it 10 different times, so people are still being robbed of tens of thousands of dollars, even with these guidelines in place,” Anclam said.
To help people learn about these scams, AARP Wisconsin is hosting a scam on the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay campus.
They bring in expert speakers to help you stay one step ahead of the scammers.
The Scam Jam is a free event next week, Thursday, October 16, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
We ask you to register online to attend.
Consumer experts say that once money is sent through a crypto ATM, it disappears.
They invite you to report it immediately.
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