Americans lost $333 million to Bitcoin ATM fraud in 2025 — FBI says there is a ‘clear and constant rise’ of this scam, and that it is ‘not slowing down’

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More Americans are losing money to scams via crypto ATMs.

Bitcoin ATM screen
(Image credit: Getty Images)

The FBI says Americans lost at least $333 million to Bitcoin ATM scams in 2025, as the cryptocurrency has continued to gain popularity for use in fraudulent transactions. The law enforcement agency told CNBC that this is a “clear and constant rise” that is “not slowing down.” Reported losses to crypto ATM scams first broke $100 million in 2023, with the amount hitting $114 million — this then doubled the following year to $247 million. While the reported losses in 2025 weren’t as huge a jump, it’s still costing private citizens a huge amount of money, with most scammers targeting older victims.

The authorities are acting against cryptocurrency ATM providers, saying that they’re “pocketing hundreds of thousands of dollars in undisclosed fees on the backs of scam victims.” The U.S. Attorney General even sued Athena Bitcoin, with the lawsuit pointing out the 93% of the transactions on its ATMs “are the product of outright fraud,” with victims having a median age of 71 years. In its defense, Athena told ABC News that it has “strong safeguards against fraud, including transparent instructions, prominent warnings, and customer education.” An Athena rep also said, “Just as a bank isn’t held responsible if someone willingly sends funds to someone else, Athena does not control users’ decisions.”

Earlier this year, we saw one local government take things into its own hands using a power tool to recover almost $32,000 that a victim deposited into a Bitcoin Depot ATM. The Sheriff’s office was able to do this after securing a warrant, but the company said that it will seek damages, especially as each machine costs around $14,000. Furthermore, the victim will not be able to immediately get the recovered money, as it will have to go through the legal system before the scammed amount will be returned to them.

The U.S. Isn’t the only place that is seeing a growing number of crypto ATM scam cases — Australian authorities also said that most crypto ATM users are either scam victims or money mules who were forced to deposit cash into these machines. Cryptocurrency does, of course, have some advantages and legitimate uses. But because it’s still fairly new, many don't understand how it works and often assume that it's just like any other bank. And with crypto ATMs becoming more ubiquitous in the U.S., it’s also making it much easier for scammers to extort and steal money from their unsuspecting victims.

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Jowi Morales
Jowi Morales
Contributing Writer
9 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Zaranthos
    Crypto was always a bad idea. Use massive amounts of electricity and computing power to make fake money. That energy and computing power would be better spent elsewhere for sure. People used to donate idle computing cycles to decoding the human genome or other worthwhile causes, now more people try to generate crypto. Mine some gold or buy some, at least that has real value.
    Reply
  • Bigshrimp
    I know someone that got hit by this very thing mentioned in the article very recently. Terrible that the money they sent is gone.:(
    Reply
  • thisisaname
    How does this compare in value to other forms of fraud?
    Reply
  • Li Ken-un
    I made it a rule of thumb for my family and extended family: if you hear a “limited offer,” “opportunity,” “emergency,” or “required urgent action” with “BitCoin” or gift cards, discredit all of the information you’ve already heard or are about to hear from the person or entity.

    This is on top of a pile of rules of thumbs I’ve given them over the years.
    Reply
  • Shiznizzle
    Go in there with a bulldozer and scoop up the machine. I would. Then go to work on it with power tools.
    Reply
  • cyrusfox
    Zaranthos said:
    Crypto was always a bad idea. Use massive amounts of electricity and computing power to make fake money. That energy and computing power would be better spent elsewhere for sure. People used to donate idle computing cycles to decoding the human genome or other worthwhile causes, now more people try to generate crypto. Mine some gold or buy some, at least that has real value.
    Crypto is clearly being abused in the situations this article talks about, and the scams and losses are awful. But that doesn’t mean crypto itself was a bad idea or “fake money.”

    Crypto is filling a real market need: unhindered (unfreezable) and uncapped monetary transfer with a public ledger and full visibility. For certain use cases, especially cross‑border transfers or people outside stable banking systems, that’s genuinely valuable. It is one of the most secure ways to transfer value if you know what you’re doing. Its irreversibility is a feature of the system, not a bug. It exists specifically so that no one can arbitrarily reverse or freeze your funds.

    Because of that, you have to be absolutely sure you have the right party, address, and that you are not being scammed before doing any crypto transaction. There are basically no built‑in safeguards. If you want safeguards, you pay for an escrow service or use a regulated intermediary, just like you would with wires, money orders, or other high‑risk transfers.

    On the “fake money” point, most money today is just digital entries in a bank database. Its value comes from trust and usefulness, not because it is backed by gold. Gold has real value for some reasons: scarcity, history, industrial use. Crypto has different sources of value: predictable supply, portability, censorship resistance, and the ability to be moved globally in minutes. Whether that matters to you depends on your situation.

    Regarding the article, I do think it is morally wrong to hold the ATM owner fully responsible for fraud committed by third‑party scammers especially when most atm's already have clear warnings and instructions in place warning about this risk. If this legal approach sticks, bitcoin ATM owners will have to add delays, extra checks, and escrow‑like behavior. That will increase fees and complexity and push the system toward behaving like a bank, even though crypto was built to be decentralized and resistant to exactly that kind of control.

    The scams and targeting of elderly people are serious problems and deserve strong law‑enforcement and education responses. But saying “crypto was always a bad idea” ignores both the legitimate use cases and the specific properties that some people actually need.
    Reply
  • bill001g
    I suspect the use of gift cards for fraudulent uses is much higher than crypto. Both are very hard to trace but when they do actually catch these guys they get almost no penalty. They caught some scammers of elderly near here lately but they were in a city that will even give murders probation. If they chopped a hand off and probation maybe but all probation means is you have to do what everyone else already does, go to work and pay your way and not commit any crimes.
    Reply
  • Li Ken-un
    Mattkegs said:
    Their services are professional and reliable.
    You were so motivated by their professionalism and reliability that you signed up to write this as your first post?
    Reply
  • bill001g
    Li Ken-un said:
    You were so motivated by their professionalism and reliability that you signed up to write this as your first post?
    Just reports these. There are massive numbers of these fake posts purely used to post advertising links. Most times they are deleted within minutes by the mods so they spent more time creating a account than the post was active.
    Reply