Thursday, January 01, 2026

FBI: Americans Lost $333.5m in Bitcoin ATM Kiosks in 2025

The FBI informs that in 2025 US consumers reported $333.5 million in losses linked to bitcoin ATM machines at retail-adjacent kiosks located in convenience stores, supermarkets, and fuel stations.

Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 12:31 PM | 14 COMMENTS | permalink

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To fight crypto scams, Senate bill would limit spending at bitcoin ATMs Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin announced legislation Tuesday that would institute sweeping new regulations for the nation's crypto ATM industry. The machines have come under increasing scrutiny as the kiosks are used for scams ...

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-- Today headline (@todayheadline.bsky.social) Feb 25, 2025 at 10:15 AM

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According to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), the scams surfaced nationwide at bitcoin ATM kiosks. Victims were typically instructed by phone or text to deposit cash and transmit cryptocurrency to external digital wallets.

The US has over 45,000 active cryptocurrency cash kiosks placed largely in retail stores, gas stations and shopping centers, enabling near-instant cash conversion to crypto and transfer to external wallets, often in under five minutes.

Many transfers were routed to wallets later identified in fraud investigations spanning Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, and West Africa.

The spike matters now because kiosk networks have grown rapidly alongside broader cryptocurrency adoption.

Links:

FinCEN Notice Aug 2025

FBI IC3 Report

So, in addition to ammunition vending machines slowly spreading in the Red States to help kill our fellow Americans by making bullets easier to buy, there is also a proliferation of bitcoin kiosks in the US to help our fellow Americans lose their money.

The US is certainly a well-regulated country, isn't it?


#1 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2025-12-31 04:33 AM

" Victims were typically instructed by phone or text to deposit cash and transmit cryptocurrency to external digital wallets."

When Bitcoin started getting a bit of press, my grand-nephew (~19 at the time), a bit puzzled, asked me, Like, what do they make, Uncle Dan?

My answer: "Bigger Fools".

Obviously, I don't fully understand Blockchain, but looking at these results makes me feel like this is a six-player poker game, with the other five people in a room somewhere, showing their cards to each other.

#2 | Posted by Danforth at 2025-12-31 04:50 AM

I don't recall which digital currency, but I remember reading one report saying of the over 1 million investors ...

15 had made money.

I also make it a habit to follow up on every Tax client of mine who has digital currency: up or down?

Only one of my clients has ever said up. And then, he followed it quickly with, "But I got out a long time ago".

#3 | Posted by Danforth at 2025-12-31 04:55 AM

Hi Danforth:

Your answer to your grand nephew "bigger fools" about bitcoin is perfect.

There is an old mafia philosophy that I have used over the decades in the military or USIC:

"If you don't understand it, get rid of it."

Years ago, a US Army Major handed me a raw intelligence report (IIR) which was fairly important. I edited the confusing chaff out of the IIR to get to the BLUF, or the "meat of the matter" and put the report into the national portal (SIPRNET).

Problem solved.

Another time I had a chance to fire an AK-47 rifle overseas. Having qualified on many weapons over the years, I never fired one of these loud Bolshevik firecrackers. I was unfamiliar with its operation, even though assault rifles basically work the same way.

To save my hearing (even with earplugs AK-47s are loud) and not look too stupid, I politely declined the offer from my "allied" colleague.

Problem solved.

Oh, bitcoin stuff and investments? No thank you.

Problem solved.


#4 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2025-12-31 05:32 AM

Obviously, I don't fully understand Blockchain, but looking at these results makes me feel like this is a six-player poker game, with the other five people in a room somewhere, showing their cards to each other.
#2 | POSTED BY DANFORTH

"If you've been playing poker for half an hour and you still don't know who the patsy is, you're the patsy."
Attributed to Warren Buffett

That's a piece of advice I put right up there with some other words of wisdom: "Never play cards with a man called Doc. Never eat at a place called Mom's. Never sleep with a woman whose troubles are worse than your own" (Nelson Algren, A Walk on the Wild Side).

#5 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2025-12-31 06:30 AM

I don't understand Blockchain either, but if I got a call telling me I had to deposit cash into a Bitcoin ATM, I would ask the caller to send a picture of himself so I could see if I was as stupid as he looks.

One more reason to not answer my phone if the number is not in my contact list.

#6 | Posted by Chantresse at 2025-12-31 09:54 AM

The most simplified explanation I can come up with...

You're trading stuff. All the trades are kept in a notebook. The notebook is the blockchain. A block is a page in the notebook. The chain is the secret code on each page that links it to the next page. Everybody has the same notebook so cheating the notebook is instantly caught.

In this case, replace stuff being traded with digital coins. Now it's a race between "miners". Miners are trying to guess the page code to lock it to move on to the next one. The reward is coins for doing it. That prevents money printing and slows down the amount of coins introduced over time.

It's also a wild new frontier of social manipulation fraud.

#7 | Posted by sitzkrieg at 2025-12-31 11:33 AM


Obviously, I don't fully understand Blockchain, but looking at these results makes me feel like this is a six-player poker game, with the other five people in a room somewhere, showing their cards to each other.
#2 | POSTED BY DANFORTH

Blockchain isn't bitcoin, its a form of distributed/decentralized triple entry accounting.

Blockchain could be used to keep track of public funds for instance.

BitCoin is a currency, it uses blockchain to make public and decentralize the digital ledger inorder to record every transaction in "blocks" that are cryptographically linked in a "chain," creating a transparent, unchangeable history without needing a central bank or authority.

Its strange that BitCoin is seen as an investment (given its volatility I suppose), as it was created as a form of currency.

#8 | Posted by oneironaut at 2025-12-31 03:32 PM


Many transfers were routed to wallets later identified in fraud investigations spanning Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, and West Africa.

The spike matters now because kiosk networks have grown rapidly alongside broader cryptocurrency adoption.

This sounds so implausible, BitCoin owners using some gas station ATM machine ... who even does that, much less someone technically savy? Must be buying lottery tickets. LOL

#9 | Posted by oneironaut at 2025-12-31 03:35 PM

Thanks for the explanation.

" It's strange that BitCoin is seen as an investment (given its volatility I suppose), as it was created as a form of currency."

That's why they referred to investments like that as "bigger fools" investments.

From the day you buy it, you're looking for a bigger fool to sell it to.

#10 | Posted by Danforth at 2025-12-31 03:45 PM

"Many transfers were routed to wallets later identified in fraud investigations spanning Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, and West Africa.
The spike matters now because kiosk networks have grown rapidly alongside broader cryptocurrency adoption."
This sounds so implausible, BitCoin owners using some gas station ATM machine ... who even does that, much less someone technically savy? Must be buying lottery tickets. LOL
#9 | Posted by oneironaut at 2025-12-31 03:35 PM

Ahh, so that's what you do? Wallet theft.

#11 | Posted by redlightrobot at 2025-12-31 04:04 PM

Gas Station Bitcoin ATMs seem about as trustworthy as Gas Station Sushi.

#12 | Posted by snoofy at 2025-12-31 04:09 PM

This sounds so implausible, BitCoin owners using some gas station ATM machine

#9 | Posted by oneironaut at 2025-12-31 03:35 PM | Reply | Flag:

They're not bitcoin owners. They're people trying to own bitcoin.

#13 | Posted by sitzkrieg at 2025-12-31 04:53 PM

Bet they were all wearing red hats

#14 | Posted by LegallyYourDead at 2025-12-31 06:23 PM

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