Crypto Kiosk Scams Cost Texans $57M as Lawmakers Weigh a Ban

[Oshosondy]

Indiana, Tennessee and Minnesota have banned bitcoin and crypto ATM in their state, Taxas may be next.

https://decrypt.co/374778/crypto-kiosk-scams-cost-texans-57m-as-lawmakers-weigh-a-ban

But why people are so vulnerable to romance scam? You have not seen someone before and you send the person money. Is that not foolishness while the person and the coin can not be traced?

[Russlenat]

Texas losing 57 million in crypto scams is rough, but that's scammers using romance traps and fake investments, not crypto itself. Don't ban it. Regulate smarter and educate people to spot these scams. Go after the scammers, not the tool.

[MArsland]

Indiana, Tennessee and Minnesota have banned bitcoin and crypto ATM in their state, Taxas may be next.

https://decrypt.co/374778/crypto-kiosk-scams-cost-texans-57m-as-lawmakers-weigh-a-ban

But why people are so vulnerable to romance scam? You have not seen someone before and you send the person money. Is that not foolishness while the person and the coin can not be traced?

I once handled a similar case where my neighbor was seduced by a man claiming to be from South Korea (you know what they look like). They had been in a phone relationship for over six months, and my neighbor fell for the scam by constantly sending him crypto (XRP). I had to resolve the woman's mental health issues through various means to help her regain consciousness and escape the scammer's clutches.
If it already involves feelings, a person can be irrational, so even if you have never met and just a sweet appointment over the phone can make a person ignore logic in favor of being emotionally fulfilled.

[Ojima-ojo]

Scammers will always take advantage of any cryptocurrency related development, the concept of a true Bitcoin ATM operations and service have been abused in their actions.


More blames goes to the victims who are supposed to know better, how to make cryptocurrency transactions void of third party involvement, most of the machine services is what one can do from their convenience and in privacy.

[Livingleged]

The kiosks take cash and convert it to crypto, and sit in gas stations and convenience stores. The Texas Tribune counts about 4,000 across the state. Scammers persuade victims to withdraw money from their bank accounts and feed it into a machine.

The quote from your link is just enough to tell that the problem isn’t with the machine but rather the victim of those scams, how will someone persuade you to withdraw your money from bank and deposit it to an ATM machine without any proper grounds reason. I know scammers will always come with different formats that are convincing though, but most people falling for such scam are either the greedy one’s or some old folks that aren’t educated about crypto. Banning Bitcoin ATM machines might not be the solution to stop the crypto scam anyway. educating people about the scams and how to avoid them will do more than banning it.
A lot of people and governments have been against this Bitcoin ATM due to some filthy reasons that could actually be avoided, initially they said it was slow, and also the physical attacks threat it could possess, now it’s more again.  

[stadus]

Scammers will always take advantage of any cryptocurrency related development, the concept of a true Bitcoin ATM operations and service have been abused in their actions.

What I find strange is that people always blame the ATM, even though the ATM itself did nothing wrong. It was only used as a tool to complete the transaction.

What if they used a regular fiat ATM instead? Scammers also use banks, e-wallets, and other payment methods, but we don’t automatically blame the technology. So blaming the ATM alone doesn’t really make sense.

The purpose of this technology is to make transactions easier and more accessible. The real problem is not that the ATM was abused, but that some people lacked enough knowledge and became easy targets for scammers. We should not blame the technology for that. The government should focus more on education, warnings, and proper regulation, especially since they also earn taxes and fees from these businesses. They cannot just allow it to operate and then blame the machine when something goes wrong.

[Merit.s]

But why people are so vulnerable to romance scam? You have not seen someone before and you send the person money. Is that not foolishness while the person and the coin can not be traced?

A lot of romantic work is done on the person first in order for them to believe that the scammers truly love them. The funny thing is that, the scammer will first ask for a little amount of money to commit his victim and the moment that money is sent, the victim will find it difficult to draw back.

Don't trust any stranger you meet online because they ain't real since they're after your money. US should sensitize their citizens on various way that they can be scammed online and not removing these bitcoin ATMs.

[Japinat]

But why people are so vulnerable to romance scam? You have not seen someone before and you send the person money. Is that not foolishness while the person and the coin can not be traced?

A lot of romantic work is done on the person first in order for them to believe that the scammers truly love them. The funny thing is that, the scammer will first ask for a little amount of money to commit his victim and the moment that money is sent, the victim will find it difficult to draw back.

Don't trust any stranger you meet online because they ain't real since they're after your money. US should sensitize their citizens on various way that they can be scammed online and not removing these bitcoin ATMs.

Maybe this is the real reason regulators want to ban Bitcoin ATMs. Victims can send money in just a few minutes, while the scammer can quickly move the Bitcoin through different wallets, mixers, or other services.

The problem is that once the transaction is done, recovering the money becomes very difficult. Unlike exchanges that usually require KYC, some Bitcoin ATMs may allow transactions with little verification, so authorities have fewer details to follow.

From the regulator’s side, banning the machines may look easier than investigating every scam case. But that still does not solve the real problem. Scammers will simply use another payment method. Better KYC, transaction limits, clear warnings, and faster reporting would probably help more than a complete ban.

[Perfectbaby]

But why people are so vulnerable to romance scam? You have not seen someone before and you send the person money. Is that not foolishness while the person and the coin can not be traced?

Ths question is that how do they get the person address if not for mistakes?
As I know, there is always a mistake while sending out payment to address if you do not confirm careful to know whether is the right wallet address or not. And of course, if someone sends payment to an unknown address it would be that hard for them to carefully trace and tracked down the address. If the address is not an exchange address then the possibility of tracking the owner could be extremely poor.

[Karl_3000]

Scammers will always take advantage of any cryptocurrency related development, the concept of a true Bitcoin ATM operations and service have been abused in their actions.


More blames goes to the victims who are supposed to know better, how to make cryptocurrency transactions void of third party involvement, most of the machine services is what one can do from their convenience and in privacy.

Scammers are even beyond crypto, they are everywhere that there is money. If Texas ban bitcoin ATMs in their state, the scammers still have ways they are using to collect the money from their state people. If they like, Texans should not learn how they can stay away from pig butchering scam. I do not know why people are foolish to get scammed easily by sending money to the scammers through bitcoin ATMs.

[Dunamisx]

But why people are so vulnerable to romance scam? You have not seen someone before and you send the person money. Is that not foolishness while the person and the coin can not be traced?

Maturity is not by age, it is by knowledge and how sound one is by being informed of what to do and not, some people are easily convince and they can be at the same time motivated or persuaded to do something without having a second thought on it, what scammer wanted is to present you with an offer that will look real to you and if you are the type that has that kind of weakness, then you will definitely fall into their trap, must have been using the same method to scam and some are evading it because they are quite aware of the implication of doing such, but also know that not everyone will be fully aware or informed of what to do and how to spot a scam.

[Z-tight]

Crypto atm's are going to continue to decline in numbers, as the cases of fraud and money laundering through these kiosks is on the rise. Canada proposed a ban on all crypto atm's sometime ago, the U.K. have banned these machines, and many other countries have placed certain restrictions on the operations of crypto atm's in their jurisdiction.

However, the victims of these attacks are very gullible, you have to be really dumb for someone to call you, impersonating a public official, requesting that you withdraw fiat and deposit it into a crypto atm and send them the funds. Immediately you receive that call, you ought to know that it is a scam.

[goldkingcoiner]

Indiana, Tennessee and Minnesota have banned bitcoin and crypto ATM in their state, Taxas may be next.

https://decrypt.co/374778/crypto-kiosk-scams-cost-texans-57m-as-lawmakers-weigh-a-ban

But why people are so vulnerable to romance scam? You have not seen someone before and you send the person money. Is that not foolishness while the person and the coin can not be traced?

Seems strange that the US would go the same route as the EU. I guess people are not ready for crypto ATMs? Or perhaps the centralized fiat to cryptocurrency machine was never meant to be part of the decentralized world in the first place. A world without fiat, what a heaven that place would be...   

Not even a superior currency like crypto (meaning Bitcoin) is going to have no weak points whatsoever. And the weak point here being the same as the one in fiat: humans are too scammable.

So give them a better system over their money, don't give them a better system... Doesn't matter when it comes to getting tricked.

[Hazink]

But why people are so vulnerable to romance scam? You have not seen someone before and you send the person money. Is that not foolishness while the person and the coin can not be traced?

Those people who are too desperate to meet a celebrity are always the ones who fall victim to this type of romance scam, or they are too lonely at home and the best place they think they can get a partner is online, and these scammers are too good in terms of building trust with this their victims social engineering in another level, and the elderly people are always most of their targets.

[X-ray]

But why people are so vulnerable to romance scam? You have not seen someone before and you send the person money. Is that not foolishness while the person and the coin can not be traced?

You'd be surprised at how much this kind of romance scam happening around the world.

Some people are lonely and even a short message from a fake accounts with attractive woman as a profile picture already get them butterflies in the stomach.

These romance scams cause several billions dollars lost in 2025 alone without counting the unreported cases.

A crypto ATM ban wouldn't solve this problem though, these scammers are using crypto ATM because it's more convenient than telling their victim to buy amazon giftcard and send it to them.

If crypto ATM is banned, the scammer will 100% use another means.

[joniboini]

Not surprised. I've seen governments use the easiest route to tackle scams. Stuff like banning websites and so on. Instead of improving education or scam awareness, they spend more effort on making sure they can blacklist certain stuffs. Maybe it will work and make people discouraged to fall for scams, but I also think scammers will use other means quickly. We've seen many reports about supply chain attacks and whatnot in the last few months too.

[tread93]

Indiana, Tennessee and Minnesota have banned bitcoin and crypto ATM in their state, Taxas may be next.

https://decrypt.co/374778/crypto-kiosk-scams-cost-texans-57m-as-lawmakers-weigh-a-ban

But why people are so vulnerable to romance scam? You have not seen someone before and you send the person money. Is that not foolishness while the person and the coin can not be traced?

These scammers play these games and many a time these bombs end up.droppimg but some of these people are either just old or lonely or scared. Many times they say its for their sick family member or they will pretend to be said member with fabricated voices that sound similar etc.

[bitbollo]

They should go at basis of the problem and ban atm that allow them to take cash!  
I would hope this is not just a way to make bitcoin ATM illegal.
In a way or the other the bank could make a check on why they are withdrawing all these dollars  
Scammers would always find a way to receive these funds.
Here in Italy I have seen all these alerts before taking cash or in any kind of local bank.
This should be the right approach.

[JeffBrad12]

I think i've got what is the REAL reason ATM is banned from that news

Currie went further, saying the kiosks in gas stations "are run by Chinese money launderers."

Payment apps suffer the same problem but that one reason above is nail on the coffin. If the scammers were to use payment apps I doubt the ban could went through as smooth as this one.
Is that statement even true though? I thought most ATM were run by US-based company.

[Z-tight]

Here in Italy I have seen all these alerts before taking cash or in any kind of local bank.
This should be the right approach.

As long as the victim keeps the withdrawal below their daily limit, the bank wouldn't ask questions, and i am sure the scammer would walk their victim through on this. As soon as they have the cash, they can head to a BTC atm and deposit it. Sometimes the scammers also teach their victims to spread the deposit across different machines, so as not to exceed the deposit limit on the machine, as well as in the jurisdiction.

They should go at basis of the problem and ban atm that allow them to take cash!  

To be fair, they'll say tx's in the banking industry can be traced, as they are tied to specific kyc'd accounts. However, as soon as the victim deposits their fiat in a BTC ATM and sends BTC to the scammers, it is as good as gone. It does not matter if the machine triggered a kyc request or not, because even if it did, it is the victim that would pass the kyc, so it does not help LE in tracking the scammers.