Crypto ATM and bitcoin ATM scams
Crypto ATM scams: how they work and what to do
If someone told you to put cash into a crypto ATM, it is a scam. Whoever they said they were.
A crypto ATM scam starts with a lie, most often on the phone: a fake police officer, your “bank”, “tech support”, an online friend. It ends with you being told to put cash into a crypto ATM and send it to a wallet the caller controls. No government agency, bank, utility or real company takes payment that way. If they tell you to buy gift cards, wire the money or make a bank transfer instead, it is the same scam. If you have already paid, call the operator on your receipt now, then the police, the FTC and the FBI.
Checked and updated by Byte Federal’s fraud-prevention team.
Happening right now?
Hang up. Walk away from the machine.
If someone is on the phone telling you to withdraw cash, go to a crypto ATM, buy gift cards or scan a QR code, it is a scam. Real police, Social Security, the IRS, your bank and Microsoft never ask for this. Hang up, then call someone you trust on a number you already have.
Don’t switch to another way to pay. If the machine stops you, the caller will push gift cards, a bank wire, a transfer or a courier at your door. It is the same scam. Changing how you pay doesn’t make it any less of one.
What to do in the first hour
Call the operator on your receipt, then the police and your bank. Report to the FTC and the FBI. Ignore anyone who offers to get it back for a fee.
Start now →Who built this, and why
A bitcoin ATM operator built this site, to stop the scam before it reaches the machine
Developed by Byte Federal, a licensed bitcoin ATM operator, to protect people from scams. We see the end of these scams at our own kiosks: someone who has been on the phone for an hour, told what to say at the bank, sent to a machine with a QR code in hand. By then the crime is almost finished.
It started somewhere else. When the FTC studied reports from people who lost money at a bitcoin ATM, the most common first contact was a phone call, in about 47% of cases; next came pop-ups, online ads and emails, which usually carried a phone number to call. In our view the phone networks that still deliver spoofed calls, and the social platforms and ad networks that carry the bait, do far too little to stop it. So this site goes where the scam starts: how to stop scam calls (including PhoneShield, the call screener our team built), the scripts scammers use, and how to protect an older parent.
At our own machines, we check ID on every transaction, warn on screen, score every transaction for risk, and call customers aged 60 and over before they buy. Byte Federal reports that, as of June 2026, 60% of the customers aged 60 and over it calls do not go on to make the transaction. The facts about crypto ATMs and fraud sets out what works and what doesn’t, with the sources.
Byte Federal, Inc. · NMLS 2327474 · FinCEN BSA ID 31000340957702 · About us
How it happens, every time
The story changes. The route doesn’t. The kiosk is the last of five steps; the crime happens in the first. Read the scripts scammers use.
- A call, text or pop-up A “government agent”, your “bank”, “tech support”, an online friend. Caller ID can be faked.
- A reason to panic An arrest warrant, a hacked account, a frozen Social Security number, a relative in jail.
- Cash from your bank They tell you what to say to the teller, and to keep it secret.
- The payment they pick A crypto ATM and their QR code, or gift cards, a wire, a courier at the door. They stay on the phone.
- The money is gone It goes straight to them and generally can’t be pulled back.
How big the problem is
Losses reported to the FBI and the FTC. Most scams are never reported, so the real numbers are higher. The last figure is Byte Federal’s own data.
Gift cards, a wire, a bank transfer: still the same scam
Scammers don’t care how the money moves. If a crypto ATM turns you away, they will send you to the bank to wire it, to a store for gift cards, or to the door to hand cash to a courier. The FTC has seen the same impersonators tell people to “transfer money out of their accounts, deposit cash into Bitcoin ATMs, and even hand off stacks of cash or gold to couriers.”
So the rule doesn’t depend on the payment. If anyone tells you to move money in a hurry and keep it secret, the answer is no: not at a kiosk, not at the bank counter, not at the gift-card rack.
And the biggest of these routes isn’t the kiosk. In the FTC’s consumer reports, more fraud money was paid by bank transfer than any other way: $2.09 billion in 2024, more than all cryptocurrency combined, kiosks included. Closing kiosks doesn’t end these scams. The problem isn’t the machine; it is the fraud industry behind the call, and it uses whatever way to pay is left open. Follow the money.
Help, step by step
If you were scammed at a crypto ATM
What to do in the first hour: the operator, the police, your bank, the FTC and the FBI, in that order.
Read →Learn the scriptsHow crypto ATM scams work
The stories scammers tell on the phone, word for word, and the red flags that give every one of them away.
Read →Where it startsStop it at the phone: blocking scam calls
These scams most often begin with a phone call. How spoofing works, what carriers do and don’t do, and the tools that screen scam calls.
Read →At the machineBefore you send: a checklist for crypto ATM users
Six questions to answer before you put cash in. One “yes” means stop.
Read →For familiesProtecting an older parent from crypto ATM scams
The conversation to have now, the call screening to set up, the signs a parent is being coached, and what to do if it has happened.
Read →The factsThe facts about crypto ATMs and fraud
Where these scams start, where fraud money really moves, what Indiana’s ban did, who loses when kiosks close, and what works.
Read →State lawsCrypto ATM laws and limits by state
Every state’s kiosk law with the statute: limits, bans, and where the law makes the operator reimburse scam losses, with the deadlines.
Read →Report itWhere to report a crypto ATM scam
Every agency that takes reports, including for the number that called you, what each one does with it, and what to have ready.
Read →Guide“Crypto recovery” services: the second scam
Why anyone who promises to get your crypto back for a fee is almost certainly running another scam.
Read →Questions people ask
What is a crypto ATM scam?
A con in which a criminal, usually on the phone, persuades you to withdraw cash and put it into a crypto ATM (also called a bitcoin ATM or crypto kiosk), then send the crypto to a wallet they control, often by scanning a QR code they sent you. The same callers send people to buy gift cards, wire money or hand cash to a courier. The kiosk is the last step; the crime is the lie that comes first.
Can I get my money back?
Often not: crypto sent to a scammer’s wallet generally can’t be reversed. But act fast anyway. Call the operator on your receipt, report to the police, the FTC and the FBI, and check whether your state’s law makes the operator reimburse scam losses from its own funds, and by when you must report. Never pay anyone who promises to recover it.
Is it safer to pay with gift cards or a bank wire instead?
No. If someone tells you to pay in a hurry, it is the same scam whether they ask for a crypto ATM, gift cards, a wire, a bank transfer or cash handed to a courier. Scammers switch to another way to pay as soon as one is blocked. Bank transfers carry more fraud money than any other method in the FTC’s reports: $2.09 billion in 2024.
Are crypto ATMs a scam?
No. They are machines that sell crypto for cash. Licensed operators register with FinCEN as money services businesses, hold state money transmitter licenses, check customers’ ID and warn them on screen, and some call customers before the money moves. The scam is the person who tells you to use one to pay them; nobody legitimate asks to be paid that way.
Why does a bitcoin ATM company care about scams?
Because we love bitcoin, and we see the end of these scams at our own machines, where the technology gets blamed for a crime that started on the phone. By then the crime is almost finished. It starts with a phone call, a text or a fake ad, on networks that in our view do far too little to stop it. This site is Byte Federal’s attempt to reach people before the scammer does. It charges nothing for help. Who we are.
Sources for this page
- FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center: 2025 Internet Crime Report (crypto ATMs/kiosks, p. 53) · 13,460 crypto ATM complaints and $389 million lost in 2025; $257 million of it by people 60 and over. Call center fraud (tech support and government impersonation): more than 80,000 complaints and over $2.9 billion lost.
- FBI public service announcement I-051526-PSA: Cryptocurrency kiosk complaint data by state (May 15, 2026) · “No legitimate law enforcement or government official will call to demand payment via a cryptocurrency kiosk.” What to give the FBI: TXID, wallet address, kiosk location.
- FTC Consumer Protection Data Spotlight on bitcoin ATM fraud (Sept 3, 2024) · Jan–Jun 2024 loss reports: a phone call was the most common first contact (about 47%), then online ads or pop-ups (16%); about 86% of people reporting a loss were on government impersonation, business impersonation or tech support scams; median loss $10,000; people 60+ more than three times as likely to report a loss.
- FinCEN Notice FIN-2025-NTC1: Use of convertible virtual currency kiosks for scam payments (Aug 4, 2025) · “Many scammers using CVC kiosks initiate contact with potential victims through unsolicited calls”; tech support scams are the most common kiosk scam; scammers stay on the phone until the payment is made and pick the machines.
- FTC data spotlight: False alarm, real scam: how scammers are stealing older adults’ life savings (Aug 7, 2025) · “These scams still depend on a phone call. Even when they don’t start with a call, reports show the goal is to get you on the phone.” In 2024, 41% of older adults who lost $10,000 or more to an imposter scam said it began with a phone call; scammers told people to deposit cash into Bitcoin ATMs or hand cash or gold to couriers.
- FTC: Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book 2024 (March 2025), pp. 11–12, fraud reports by payment method and by contact method · $12.5 billion reported lost. By payment method: bank transfer or payment $2,089M, cryptocurrency $1,417M, wire transfer $287M, credit cards $275M, gift or reload cards $212M. By contact method: phone call $948M lost, median $1,500, the highest of any contact method.
- FTC consumer alert: Did someone send you to a Bitcoin ATM? It’s a scam (Mar 7, 2024) · “Will someone from the government send you to a Bitcoin ATM? NEVER.” No government bitcoin accounts, no “federal safety lockers”.
- FTC consumer alert: Did someone insist you pay them with cryptocurrency? (Aug 28, 2023) · “Only scammers demand payment in cryptocurrency.”
- FTC: What to do if you were scammed (June 2026) · “Contact the cryptocurrency exchange or ATM operator immediately. Tell them it was a fraudulent transaction.” Then report to the FTC.
- Byte Federal: Crypto ATM fraud prevention, stopping fraud at every layer · Byte Federal’s controls, and its internal compliance data: live recorded calls with every customer aged 60 and over; “as of June 2026, 60% of these customers do not conduct a transaction.”
- Byte Federal: Take action (the Indiana case study and Byte Federal’s five-layer defense) · AI-powered transaction risk scoring, live operator scam-awareness intervention, cool-down periods for high-risk profiles, real-time on-screen warnings, law-enforcement coordination; Indiana HEA 1116 removed the kiosks and left the scam infrastructure intact.
- Byte Federal: Bitcoin ATM scam facts · The kiosk is the last step of a five-step con; the largest fraud rails are the banks’ own; bans push fraud to gift cards, wires and cash by mail.
Every source was opened and checked on November 8, 2026. Laws and agency figures change; if you find something out of date, write to hello@cryptoatmscam.com and we will correct it.
Cite this page
Crypto ATM Scam Help. “Crypto ATM scams: how they work and what to do.” Updated November 8, 2026. https://cryptoatmscam.com/