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With crypto crimes showing no signs of stopping, US senators have finally decided to take action to mitigate the damages from these cyber-related illicit operations.  

US Senator Dick Durbin along with seven other officials sent a letter to Bitcoin ATM service providers urging them to take action regarding fraud against senior Americans. 

The letters were sent to the “ten largest” BTC ATM providers such as Athena Bitcoin, Bitcoin Depot, Bitstop, Byte Federal, Cash2Bitcoin, CoinFlip, Coinhub, Margo, RockItCoin and Unbank. 

Noting a rapid surge of crypto scams affecting innocent American seniors, the senator — in the letter — claimed BTC ATMS are contributing to “widespread financial fraud.” Additionally, the senators pointed out that Bitcoin’s features of “anonymity” and “irreversibility of crypto transactions” have made it an ideal asset for fraudsters to promote their illicit activities. 

An investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) revealed a common pattern occurring in the Bitcoin ATM-related crypto scams. The scammer would often request for a payment from the victim by mostly sending a QR scan, which is associated with the fraudsters wallet. 

Victims would then be directed by the scammer to go to a physical crypto ATM to insert their money, purchase crypto and use the provided QR code to auto-populate the recipient address. 

During the scam, the victim is in constant communication with the scammer until the payment is completed. Once the crypto and money is transferred, scammers stop communicating with the victim, leaving them to face a significant loss. 

The damage from BTC ATM scams has become devastating, with data revealing that victims lost more than $65 million in the first half of 2024. Looking at the victims’ demographics, Americans who are aged 60 and older are three times more likely to report a loss than younger adults.

In the letter, the senators concluded by stating that the 10 Bitcoin ATM providers must answer their questions so they can address this problem and determine what legislation may be necessary to combat these scams, where bad actors are using Bitcoin ATMs as a means to promote their malicious activities.