A rising type of scam revolves around getting residents to send their money overseas in the form of bitcoin. Law enforcement officials and state legislators are calling on ATM companies to curtail the crimes.
The scam, which is increasingly affecting people across the country, often leads to residents involuntarily transferring their money into cryptocurrency and sending it overseas.
Scams may take the form of an email or computer pop-up claiming the user’s information has been compromised and can be secured with a cryptocurrency transfer, according to Connecticut State Police Detective Matthew Hogan.
The cryptocurrency ATMs are found throughout Connecticut, and there are more than 32,000 nationwide.
“They are primarily in smoke shops, convenience stores, laundromats. They are placed in particular locations for a variety of reasons,” Hogan said. “They are based off of a pop up window scam where someone may be sitting on a laptop, and they receive a pop up window saying that their computer has been infected with a virus.”
The scammer will then instruct the victim, often via phone call, on how much money to withdraw from their traditional bank before transferring it, via bitcoin ATM, to a virtual wallet operated by the scammer.
Victims of bitcoin ATM scams shouldn’t be afraid to report the crime, Hogan said. State police have capabilities to track and recover assets if the scam is reported swiftly.
“They may know where you live, but they're not coming to see you,” Hogan said. “They aren't in the country. Typically, most of these scams are originating in West Africa and other locations.”
So far this year, there've been more than 75 cases of bitcoin ATM-related scams in Connecticut, Hogan said.
Elderly residents are most targeted for the scams, as they have more money and less experience with technology, Sen. Richard Blumenthal said.
Blumenthal, along with six other members of congress, wrote to the 10 companies that operate the largest bitcoin ATM chains to ask for intervention. If nothing’s done, Blumenthal plans to push for legislation.
“We're writing a letter as a first step, asking them to voluntarily stop the fraudsters. But certainly stronger regulation of crypto and particularly these bitcoin ATMs, has to be moving forward,” Blumenthal said.
