FTC Reports Tenfold Increase in Scams Involving Bitcoin ATMs

As bitcoin ATMs have been installed in more locations, they have become a “payment portal for scammers,” the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said in a Tuesday (Sept. 3) data spotlight.

The amount of money consumers lost to scams involving bitcoin ATM machines increased tenfold between 2020 and 2023, rising from $12 million to $114 million, according to the article.

The total for 2024 is on pace to top that of 2023, as the FTC’s data shows that this year’s reported bitcoin ATM fraud losses through June amounted to $66 million.

The FTC added that this amount probably reflects only a fraction of the total losses, because most frauds are not reported.

Scammers are increasingly using bitcoin ATMs as part of their government impersonation, business impersonation and tech support scams, the FTC said in a Tuesday press release.

“The lies told by scammers vary, but they all create some urgent justification for consumers to take cash out of their bank accounts and put it into a bitcoin ATM,” the FTC said in the release. “As soon as consumers scan a QR code provided by scammers at the machine, their cash is deposited straight into the scammer’s crypto account.”

Among this year’s bitcoin ATM fraud losses, people over the age of 60 were more than three times as likely as younger adults to report losing money to these scams, according to the release.

Across all ages, the median loss reported in the first half of 2024 was $10,000, per the release.

Consumers can avoid these scams by never clicking on links or responding directly to unexpected calls, messages or computer pop-ups; talking with someone they trust before doing anything else after seeing these communications; never withdrawing cash in response to unexpected calls or messages; and ignoring anyone who says they must use a bitcoin ATM, buy gift cards or move money to protect their money or solve a problem, the release said.

Crypto has become a top payment method for many types of scams, the FTC said in the data spotlight, adding: “Widespread access to [bitcoin ATMs (BTMs)] has helped make this possible.”

The FTC said in May that it has been flooded by reports of impersonation scams in which consumers are taken in by scammers purporting to represent some of today’s leading companies.