States Take Aim at Crypto ATM Fraud

AARP is urging action where you live to protect consumers

Carina Storrs,

Updated March 27, 2026

AARP

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Published February 12, 2026

/ Updated March 27, 2026

Key Takeaways

Cryptocurrency kiosks were used in scams that led to more than $333 million in reported losses in 2025.
Adults 60 and older accounted for 86 percent of reported losses in cases where the victim’s age was known.
States are moving to regulate or ban the machines, adding limits, warnings and licensing requirements.
Indiana is the first in the U.S. to enact a statewide ban.

Last August, Linda Kay Simmons frantically drove to a gas station — her 6-year-old granddaughter in the back seat — to feed thousands of dollars into a cryptocurrency ATM. Two men claiming to be sheriff’s deputies had called earlier that day to warn she could face arrest for evading grand jury duty if she didn’t deposit the cash as a bail bond.

The men demanded she stay on the phone, but concern for her granddaughter spurred the 71-year-old author from Moneta, Virginia, to borrow another phone from a stranger to call her daughter. Simmons ended up feeding close to $16,000 into the machine before her daughter arrived and convinced her it was a scam.

“I didn’t want to listen to her at first, but she was so adamant that I just stopped,” Simmons says.

Cryptocurrency kiosks, also called crypto ATMs, are an increasingly popular tool that criminals use in fraud schemes, as the transactions typically move quickly into overseas exchanges that don’t have to comply with U.S. laws. The machines, which convert cash into digital currency, often resemble traditional ATMs and are located in supermarkets, bars, convenience stores and other common businesses.

Cryptocurrency kiosks were used in scams that led to more than $333 million in reported losses in 2025, according to FBI data. More than 12,000 complaints were filed with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, which noted a “clear and consistent rise” in cryptocurrency kiosk scams over recent years “that is not slowing down.”

Older people are particularly at risk. A 2024 FBI report found that among cases where the victim’s age was known, individuals age 60 and older accounted for 86 percent of the losses.

The FBI notes that the types of fraud most closely associated with crypto ATM use include extortion, tech support scams, government impersonators and investment schemes.

AARP has pushed for protections from crimes facilitated by crypto ATMs. And a growing number of states are cracking down on their use.

In 2026, Indiana, with strong support from AARP, became the first state to ban the machines from operating anywhere within its borders. The bipartisan measure passed the state’s Senate unanimously and was signed into law on March 9. Thirty states have introduced bills related to crypto kiosks this year alone, bringing the total number that have passed laws to 20 as of 2026. The laws provide several critical protections, including setting daily transaction limits and requiring signage that warns users of fraud. Many also require operators to be licensed by the state and to provide transaction receipts to help law enforcement with investigations.

AARP got involved in early 2024 by talking with law enforcement, fraud victims and other stakeholders to understand the problem and the type of legislation that could help, says Françoise Cleveland, a government affairs director with AARP’s national office. Many of AARP’s state offices around the country have spearheaded legislative efforts to crack down on crypto ATMs.

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“We just want to be sure that any customer [using] any payment, whether that’s crypto kiosks, gold or anything else, that there are good protections against fraud,” Cleveland says.

AARP anticipates that lawmakers in nearly every state that does not already have relevant statutes will consider legislation in 2026 or 2027.

‘It’s just heartbreaking’

Lt. Eric Calendine, a fraud investigator for the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office in South Carolina, is working this year with lawmakers in that state to pass crypto ATM legislation. He’s been tracking crypto kiosk fraud in Beaufort County since 2024 and has found that many cases involve jury duty, tech support, romance and impostor scams.

The money is especially hard to recover because it typically goes to overseas exchanges that don’t have to cooperate with U.S. authorities, Calendine says.

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“It’s just heartbreaking,” he says. “A lot of people … have worked their whole lives, and in a matter of an instant, it’s gone.”

In Virginia, AARP is urging state lawmakers to consider crypto ATM fraud protections during the 2026 legislative session.

“Legislation that establishes daily transaction limits, requires fraud warnings and ensures that operators are licensed with the state would go a long way to helping prevent Virginians from being victimized by scammers at crypto kiosks,” says Jared Calfee, AARP Virginia’s state director.

Legislation will, hopefully, include language to create a helpline or other way for local law enforcement agencies, which often don’t have experience in investigating crypto fraud, to connect with state police or the attorney general’s office, says state Sen. Saddam Azlan Salim (D-Fairfax), who is leading the state’s charge on digital currency regulation.

Salim says that kiosk operators have been at the table and even supportive of most of the protections if it means they can still have machines in the state.

Transparency, accountability

While state legislation to regulate crypto ATMs is relatively new, there are indications that such laws are helping curb the problem in California and Connecticut, the first states to pass bills, which they did in 2023.

Connecticut does not have statewide data for fraud complaints related to crypto ATMs, but “we are not taking nearly as many … cases,” says Matt Hogan, a detective with Connecticut State Police who helped draft the state’s consumer protection legislation.

While California is still seeing increases in complaints related to crypto ATM fraud, possibly because victims are reporting it more, the daily transaction limit for customers appears to be reducing the amount lost per case, according to a spokesperson for the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation.

In Vermont, lawmakers in 2025 extended a moratorium on new crypto kiosks in the state to July 1, 2026.

Cities are also taking action. The city councils in Spokane, Washington, and St. Paul, Minnesota, last year voted to ban crypto ATMs altogether.

Other municipalities, such as Omaha and Grand Island in Nebraska, have passed ordinances requiring the posting of signs warning about the fraud risks associated with crypto kiosks. Nebraska also passed statewide legislation to regulate the machines — which AARP advocated for — in 2025. “By requiring transparency and accountability for cryptocurrency kiosks, we are taking steps to ensure that as digital finances are evolving, strong consumer safeguards are being put into place,” says Jina Ragland, AARP Nebraska’s senior associate state director for advocacy.

However, consumer protection laws won’t prevent all crypto ATM–related fraud, so enforcement is also key, says Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird (R).

In 2025, Bird sued two kiosk operators in the state, Bitcoin Depot and CoinFlip, after her investigation found that at least 95 percent of transactions at their machines were fraudulent and cost Iowans about $20 million in less than three years.

Iowa passed a crypto kiosk consumer protection law in 2025, which Bird calls a “strong first step.” That statute does not apply to Bird’s lawsuit, which instead alleges that operators violated an older law generally prohibiting companies from defrauding or deceiving consumers.

Other attorneys general across the U.S. are launching crypto kiosk investigations, Bird notes. In September, D.C. Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb (D) announced a lawsuit against Athena Bitcoin, one of the biggest U.S. crypto kiosk operators, after his investigation found 93 percent of its transactions to be fraudulent.

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AARP writer Miriam Cross contributed to this story.

The key takeaways were created with the assistance of generative AI. An AARP editor reviewed and refined the content for accuracy and clarity.

Carina Storrs writes about aging, fraud, health policy, infectious disease and other issues. She has written for the Bulletin since 2023.