Lawmakers Call on Crypto ATM Operators to Combat Fraud as Losses Mount to $65M
Ruholamin Haqshanas is a contributing crypto writer for CryptoNews. He is a crypto and finance journalist with over four years of experience. Ruholamin has been featured in several high-profile crypto...
A group of U.S. Senate Democrats, led by Majority Whip and Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin, is urging major cryptocurrency ATM operators to take swift action against rising fraud targeting elderly Americans.
On September 12, seven Democratic senators, including Elizabeth Warren, issued a statement calling on 10 of the country’s largest crypto ATM firms to address growing financial losses from Bitcoin ATMs (BTMs).
According to data from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), fraud linked to these machines reached $65 million in the first half of 2023.
The senators expressed particular concern for older Americans, noting that individuals aged 60 and over are more than three times as likely to fall victim to BTM-related scams than younger adults.
The letters were sent to the CEOs and top executives of Bitcoin Depot, CoinFlip, RockItCoin, Bitstop, Coinhub, Unbank, Athena Bitcoin, Byte Federal, Cash2Bitcoin, and Margo.
Durbin, Warren, and fellow senators Richard Blumenthal, Jack Reed, Tina Smith, Peter Welch, and Sheldon Whitehouse, urged the firms to “take immediate action” to curb fraud schemes that are disproportionately affecting seniors.
They highlighted the role these companies have played by placing BTMs in various locations, often paying businesses to host the machines.
Criminals are contacting, threatening, and coercing elderly Americans into depositing large sums of money into criminals’ crypto wallets using Bitcoin ATMs.
We’re telling those companies: it’s time to stop this. pic.twitter.com/Hbc7MzINkR
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