The FBI stated in a public service announcement made in cooperation with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) that scammers are increasingly using crypto ATMs to receive funds from deceived victims.
a warning that crypto ATMs are becoming a popular method for scammers to receive funds from deceived victims.
The information was revealed as part of an October 3 public warning regarding pig butchering scams, in which fraudsters act as long-lost friends or potential romantic partners in order to steal money from victims.
The scammers "fatten up" their victims by pretending to be interested in them in order to gain their confidence, and then gradually add investment conversations into the relationship.
The FBI stated in a public service announcement made in cooperation with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) that victims of these pig butchering crypto scams had little prospect of recovering their funds.
The FBI, on the other hand, stated that they have noticed fraudsters increasingly instructing their victims to transfer funds using crypto ATM machines, noting:
“Many victims describe being directed to move funds to foreign accounts or to acquire significant quantities of prepaid cards. The usage of cryptocurrency and bitcoin ATMs is another developing payment option. Individual losses from these scams ranged between tens of thousands and millions of dollars.”
According to the FBI, victims of "pig butchering" scams are "coached through an investing process" and "encouraged to make ongoing contributions by the fraudsters."
“When the victims try to cash out their investments, they are informed they must pay income taxes or extra fees, resulting in further losses.”
Scammers have long used cryptocurrency ATMs to trick victims into sending them funds under the pretext of paying off debts or unpaid taxes in order to avoid more fines.
As per sources data, there are roughly 33,500 cryptocurrency ATMs in the United States, accounting for 87.4% of worldwide crypto ATM distribution.
In January, the Federal Trade Commission issued a warning about crypto ATM frauds, saying that the scammers sometimes pose as potential romantic partners.
The FBI advised individuals to verify the legality of any investment opportunity presented by these sorts of individuals, to be on the lookout for domain names imitating real exchanges, misspelt URLs, and not to download any apps until the legitimacy could be verified.
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