FTC cautions consumers about the surge of fraud losses at Bitcoin ATMs due to the increasing government impersonation, business impersonation, and tech support scams.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of the United States on Sept. 3 published a report about increasing fraud incidents at Bitcoin ATMs.
According to the regulator, fraud losses at Bitcoin ATMs have increased nearly tenfold from 2020 to 2023 and surpassed $65 million in the first half of 2024. This year, the median reported loss from this type of fraud was $10,000. The institution notes that most fraud incidents are not reported so the actual numbers are much higher.
Statistically, older people aged 60 and over are three times more likely than younger adults to report a loss using a Bitcoin ATM. It may seem a paradox since younger populations are more likely to use crypto in general. However, the variety of applied criminal schemes pretty much explains the tendency.
Most fraudulent cases reported involved government impersonation, business impersonation, and tech support scams. Scammers may call the victim or send them a message about alleged suspicious activity or unauthorized charges on an account. They might also create fake security warnings on your computer, often impersonating a tech company like Microsoft or Apple.
After that, criminals impersonate an authorised official or tech support professional to guide the victim through the process of depositing cash into crypto ATMs. They claim it is supposed to fix the problem. As many people, especially of older age, are not exactly familiar with the crypto industry, scammers call Bitcoin ATMs “safety lockers.”
Such a scam type has become easier since the number of Bitcoin ATMs at convenience stores, gas stations, and other high-traffic areas increased. As of today, there are over 38K Bitcoin ATMs in the world, while in 2020, their number ranged between 6 and 13 thousand.
Of course, it cannot be compared to over 3,5 million regular ATMs that are also often misused by criminals. However, the novelty of the crypto technology and poor public awareness enables scammers to trick more unsuspecting victims into their schemes. This way, criminals can target not only actual crypto users as it happened in the General Bytes Bitcoin ATMs zero-day attack of 2022, but also people who have nothing to do with crypto.
