According to the FBI, scams involving cryptocurrency ATMs cost Americans nearly $389 million in 2025, with older adults being hit the hardest.
To help spread awareness, AARP Fraud Watch volunteers teamed up with law enforcement and visited several Triangle businesses with crypto ATM machines, encouraging owners to place warning signs on the kiosks, alerting customers about scams.
"We like to find business owners like you who want to be part of the solution," said Steve Hahn with AARP. At one gas station, cashier Hari Kharel said customers frequently come in confused about how the machines work. "They question how to use the machine, like how to put the money," Kharel said.
When it comes to victims of cryptocurrency ATM scams in 2025, according to the FBI, 76% of losses connected to victims aged 60 and older.
Dolores Miller became one of those victims after receiving a phone call from someone pretending to be law enforcement. The scammer claimed there was a warrant out for her arrest and even texted her what she now knows was a fake warrant.
"He said that I should take the cash for the bond money and put it into the Bitcoin machine," Miller said. Panicked, she followed the caller's instructions and went to a cryptocurrency ATM.
"I took the money to the ATM, I mean, to the Bitcoin machine, and I was like, feeding the money in there all these hundreds and when I would get upset, and I'd start crying, he would play good cop, and he'd say, 'it's going to be all right, I'm here with you."
She eventually realized it was all a scam, but not before losing nearly $10,000. "I felt the feeling in your body, your soul, your mind that you have just been totally manipulated," Miller said.
Investigator Bryan Williscroft with the Fuquay-Varina Police Department said these scams are becoming increasingly common and extremely difficult to investigate once the money is converted into cryptocurrency. "Technology is used to mask who they are, where they are, and it's just it's a catch-up game.
Unfortunately, with these types of scams, once the money is converted, there's really little we could do," Williscroft said. That's one reason investigators and AARP Fraud Watch volunteers spent the day visiting businesses with cryptocurrency ATMs and educating owners about warning signs and scams. "Know how to recognize it, because everybody says it'll never happen to me and then it does," Williscroft said.
While many states have laws regulating cryptocurrency ATMs, North Carolina currently does not. Advocates are now pushing for changes aimed at increasing protections and awareness.
Authorities say these scams often begin with threatening phone calls from someone pretending to be law enforcement or claiming there are fraud charges connected to the victim. They warn that if anyone tells you to withdraw cash and take it to a cryptocurrency ATM, it is a scam.
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