PHOENIX (AZFamily) — As cryptocurrency gains popularity, so too have Bitcoin ATMs with hundreds across Arizona.
As Arizona’s Family Investigates has reported, Bitcoin ATMs are not regulated in the state, and scammers are increasingly using them to get your money.
A bill making its way through the state Legislature could change that.
House Bill 2387 would put safeguards in place, including a daily limit on how much money you can put in, and require that operators let you know the fees they’re charging you.
“He saw what I had in the account, he took it all,” said Tamara Gleru, a Peoria retiree who lost $28,000 to scammers. Most of it was cash she put into a Bitcoin ATM.
“It was all that I had because I’m on social security. That was my savings and my IRA,” Glerum said.
Unfortunately, she’s not alone.
Law enforcement agencies across the state said they’re dealing with a surge of these cases. Instead of gift cards, crooks are directing their victims to Bitcoin ATMs.
“It’s a way to circumvent the traditional banking sector, all the protocols around that,” said John Griffin, a University of Texas at Austin finance professor who studies cryptocurrencies.
“Scammers are using these to steal funds and so I do think it’s an epidemic,” he explained.
That’s why AARP Arizona has worked with police, state lawmakers, and Bitcoin ATM operators to push for a bill that would regulate these machines.
“It’s more about the individuals who use them and people who are using them because they’re being scammed,” said Brendon Blake, the advocacy director at AARP Arizona.
The bill would require operators to disclose fees, some of which are upwards of 20%; the consumer would then need to acknowledge them, they’d also have to provide a receipt, both paper and digital, and finally, the ATMs couldn’t accept more than $2,000 per day.
“We can’t always prevent fraud from happening, but we can certainly limit the damage,” Blake explained.
It’s something that could have helped Glerum.
“It’ll never happen again because I will never. I will be wiser this time. But unfortunately, they took all my money,” she said.
AARP Arizona acknowledges scammers could direct someone to another Bitcoin ATM, but it creates a barrier. It gives a person time to consider what they’re doing and, hopefully, stops them from losing more money.
AARP Arizona said they expect an amendment to be added to the bill on Thursday and then likely go to the House for a full vote.
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