The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) of the United States has issued an urgent warning, urging the public to be highly vigilant immediately upon receiving instructions to make payments via encrypted ATM. The regulatory agency stated that any situation where someone claims to be a government official, bank employee, or representative of a large corporation and requests to make transfers using public encryption terminals should be regarded as highly suspicious.
Lost 58% growth in one year
This warning is related to the ongoing fraud issues in the United States this summer. CFTC cites data from FBI which indicates that losses incurred by American citizens due to these scams have increased by 58% over the past year, with the total amount exceeding 388 million US dollars.
Regulatory authorities emphasize that scammers often impersonate employees of the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS), bank staff, or technical support personnel from large technology companies. By creating a sense of urgency and panic, they induce victims to withdraw cash and proceed to nearby cryptocurrency ATM transactions.
The fraud process leads to anonymous wallets.
Such scams usually involve collecting payments through QR codes. Once the victim deposits cash into the machine, the funds are immediately converted into cryptocurrency and transferred to the scammer's controlled wallet address. Since it is difficult to reverse such on-chain transfers, recovering the money is significantly more challenging than with traditional bank transfers.
CFTC indicates that legitimate government agencies, banks, or large companies will not request users to make payments through encrypted ATM or gift cards. Any mention of such payment methods during a call should be regarded as a clear sign of fraud.
The US market continues to shrink.
- In May, Bitcoin Depot filed for bankruptcy and shut down approximately 9,700 terminals.
- In June, Delaware and New Jersey enacted strict regulations targeting encrypted ATM.
- In July, the global inventory of ATM decreased by 10,836 units, with a reduction of 10,380 units in the United States.
- In August, Minnesota required operators to remove terminals from public places by the end of the year.
From regulatory statements to local legislation, the United States' attitude towards ATM in the crypto sector is clearly shifting towards stricter risk control. As fraud cases continue to increase, the compliance pressure on such terminals in payment and cash exchange scenarios is also rising.
