Big Losses Propel Fraud Cases

For Chris Malloy, a fraud detective with the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office in Greensboro, there’s often little he can do when faced with a horrific case of cryptocurrency fraud.

“When the victim puts the money in a crypto ATM, it goes straight to the bad guy’s wallet,” explains Malloy, who adds that he’s “had more than one victim that’s lost their life savings.”

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Fraud fighters like Malloy are seeing more cases of crypto and other forms of fraud. Beyond that, federal officials say one of the biggest drivers of overall fraud losses are thefts that top $100,000. The trend has fraud experts, organizations such as AARP and government officials — including North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson — scrambling to teach people how to avoid the scams.

For detective Malloy, one of his recent cases involved a retired Greensboro-area nurse who received what looked like a routine text from Amazon about a membership fee increase.

When she called the number in the text to cancel, the representative asked her if she wanted to close her personal or business account. She told him she didn’t have a business account.

He insisted she did — and, he added, it looked like her Social Security number had been flagged for criminal activity. He then offered to connect her to someone at her bank.

What followed was a series of transferred phone calls and messages with official-looking documents that convinced the then-74-year-old woman that her accounts were compromised and her money was at risk. She ultimately withdrew more than $10,000 in cash and sent it to the thief through a cryptocurrency kiosk.

By the time she realized what had happened and reported the crime, she was told there was no way to recover the money.

“I felt so bad for her,” says Malloy. (The woman also told her story to the Bulletin but asked that her name not be used to protect her privacy.)

FRAUD CASES UP SUBSTANTIALLY

Law enforcement officials and consumer advocates are hearing a growing number of similar stories as cryptocurrency kiosks spread across North Carolina — often into gas stations, convenience stores and other retail outlets. The machines, also called crypto ATMs, have become a preferred payment pipeline for criminals, says Jackson, a Democrat who became attorney general in 2025.

“The prevalence of these kiosks is really remarkable, given that they didn’t exist as of a couple of years ago,” Jackson says. “And what we’re seeing is they’ve become the back half of a lot of scams.”

Data from the FBI shows that reported complaints linked to crypto ATMs doubled nationwide from 2023 to 2024, with fraud losses totaling $247 million. Older adults were disproportionately affected.