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FTC: Over $110 million lost to Bitcoin ATM scams in 2023 (www.bleepingcomputer.com)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has reported a massive increase in losses to Bitcoin ATM scams, nearly ten times the amount from 2020 and reaching over $110 million in 2023.

Bitcoin ATMs are typically located in convenience stores, gas stations, and other busy areas, but instead of dispensing cash like the traditional ATMs they resemble, they allow you to buy and sell cryptocurrency.

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I can't think of any kind of legit use of a Bitcoin ATM

I see huge potential in helping laundering cash or transferring money to scammers, but otherwise?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)

It's kind of a pain to go through the process of signing up for a crypto exchange, so for some people it's probably a more convenient and less intrusive way to acquire it.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Yes and no, the user is still forced to transfer that immediately (with additional expensive fees) to their wallet as the paper receipt is printed on that thermal paper that deteriorates in a few days - not something you do for convenience, it's something you do for extreme urgency like need to pay hackers a ransomware decryption fee or other phone scammers

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

I've never used one, why don't they just like, have a camera to scan a qr code of your crypto wallet on your phone, and send it to that address directly? Anyway I don't think it can be worse than having to take a picture that includes your face, handwritten message, id, and have to retake it 20 times because the exchange won't accept it if it is slightly blurry, plus linking a bank account etc., needing to copy a private key and send another transaction seems like it would be way less annoying and creepy, even if the tradeoff of crazy high fees makes it not worth it for most people.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago

I feel like it is the 0.1% of cases, as anyway they're still required to do KYC procedures

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)

cryptocurrency is often a way to move money from one country to another with lower transaction fees and latency

imagine your mom lived on an island on the other side of the planet and she needed $5

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago

yes, but in that case you use your wallet or a crypto exchange, because the Bitcoin ATM fees (usually 15% + couple dollars fixed fee) negate this use case.

My mom needed $5 and then i send them by spending $5 in transaction fees and $5 in ATM fees.

For this use case you would save money with a western union or similar