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Most of us use ATMs pretty often to withdraw cash. But Bitcoin ATMs (or BTMs) are a different beast. Increasingly located in convenience or grocery stores, gas stations, and other places, they’re a way to buy or send cryptocurrency. Only scammers are now using BTMs to steal your money. A new FTC Data Spotlight explains how people are losing millions to fraud at BTMs — and how to protect yourself and the people you care about.

Many of these scams start with a call or message about something supposedly wrong: they might say there’s suspicious activity on your Amazon account, for example, or unauthorized charges on your bank account. (Untrue.) The caller will say your money is at risk, or even that you’re somehow linked to money laundering or drug smuggling, but they can help. (Also false.) They tell you to withdraw cash from your bank, investment, or retirement accounts and deposit it into a specific BTM. This, they say, will protect your money or fix the alleged problem. But it’s all a lie. Once you deposit the cash, it goes straight into the scammer’s wallet.

To avoid this scam:

  • Don’t believe anyone who says you need to use a Bitcoin ATM to protect your money or fix a problem. Real businesses and government agencies will never do that — anyone who does is a scammer.
  • Never withdraw cash in response to an unexpected call or message. Only scammers will tell you to do that.
  • Verify the story. If you think there’s a real problem with one of your accounts, use a phone number, website, or app you know is real to contact your bank, investment, or retirement company. Don’t use contact information in the unexpected call or message you got. That will only take you back to the scammer.
  • Report the scam. Go to ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
  • Check out How To Avoid Imposter Scams for more advice.
Scams
All Scams
Business Impersonators
FTC Impersonators
Government Impersonators

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The purpose of this blog and its comments section is to inform readers about Federal Trade Commission activity, and share information to help them avoid, report, and recover from fraud, scams, and bad business practices. Your thoughts, ideas, and concerns are welcome, and we encourage comments. But keep in mind, this is a moderated blog. We review all comments before they are posted, and we won’t post comments that don’t comply with our commenting policy. We expect commenters to treat each other and the blog writers with respect.

  • We won’t post off-topic comments, repeated identical comments, or comments that include sales pitches or promotions.
  • We won’t post comments that include vulgar messages, personal attacks by name, or offensive terms that target specific people or groups.
  • We won’t post threats, defamatory statements, or suggestions or encouragement of illegal activity.
  • We won’t post comments that include personal information, like Social Security numbers, account numbers, home addresses, and email addresses. To file a detailed report about a scam, go to ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

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Patricia Bryk
September 03, 2024

Thank You for the update

Lorna Herlache
September 03, 2024

This happened to me in March! But I never deposited any cash in a bitcoin machine! I, did withdraw money from my bank account to a tune if $10,000 , but went back to my bank and redeposited into a new account! Won’t do that ever again! Those guys on the phone thought they were going to wipe me out! Thank God for people like you!

SueAnn Sweatman
September 03, 2024

My Father was scammed $11,000 because of this scam. It was all of their savings. They were told that he would not get his money back. This is so sad that people are doing this. If he can do something to get his money back, please let me know. He is also a Veteran.

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