# The future of cryptocurrency ATMs

An episode of [Let's Talk About Scams](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1797340531), 23 Sep 2026, 19 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/75324237/let_s_talk_about_scams_09_22_2026.mp3

Many of us in the scam prevention world keep asking the question, “Why are cryptocurrency ATMs legal?” In 2026, Indiana, Tennessee, and Minnesota have enacted total statewide bans on cryptocurrency ATMs. Hawaii recently enacted a new state law that bans cash deposits at cryptocurrency ATMs. More than a dozen states are currently pursuing active legislation to either heavily restrict or completely ban these machines. Let’s Talk About Scams is broadcast live Tuesdays at 8AM PT on K4HD Radio - Hollywood Talk Radio (www.k4hd.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). Let’s Talk About Scams TV Show is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com). Let’s Talk About Scams Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets. Disclaimer: The information contained in this podcast is intended for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for individual professional / legal advice. The podcast information was carefully compiled from vetted sources and references; however, R.O.S.E. Resources / Outreach to Safeguard the Elderly cannot guarantee that you will not fall victim to a scam. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/let-s-talk-about-scams--6483699/support.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: This program is designed to provide general information with regards
[0:04] Speaker 1: to the subject matters covered. This information is given with
[0:07] Speaker 1: the understanding that neither the host, guests, sponsors, or station
[0:12] Speaker 1: are engaged in rendering any specific and personal, medical, financial, legal, counseling,
[0:19] Speaker 1: professional service, or any advice.
[0:21] Speaker 2: You should seek the services.
[0:23] Speaker 1: Of competent professionals before applying or trying any suggested ideas.
[0:30] Speaker 1: The information contained in this podcast is intended for informational
[0:33] Speaker 1: purposes only and is not a substitute for individual professional
[0:37] Speaker 1: legal advice. The podcast information was carefully compiled from vetted
[0:41] Speaker 1: sources and references. However, Rose Resources outreach to safeguard the
[0:45] Speaker 1: elderly cannot guarantee that you will not fall victim.
[0:48] Speaker 3: To a scam.
[0:50] Speaker 1: Let's talk about scams. It's the must-listen show for anyone
[0:55] Speaker 1: who wants to protect themselves and their loved ones from scams.
[0:58] Speaker 1: Every Tuesday at 8 a.m. Pacific Time on K4HD Radio,
[1:03] Speaker 1: Joyce Petrowski, founder of Rose, and her guests will provide
[1:07] Speaker 1: valuable insights and practical tips on how to recognize and
[1:12] Speaker 1: protect yourself from scams. And now, here is your host,
[1:17] Speaker 1: Joyce Petrowski.
[1:19] Speaker 3: Good morning, everybody. My name is Brian Watson filling in
[1:22] Speaker 3: for Joyce Petrowski. Thank you for turning into let's talk
[1:26] Speaker 3: about scams. Today's topic is the future of cryptocurrency ATMs.
[1:33] Speaker 3: If you've heard me on this show, I've been railing
[1:36] Speaker 3: about these cryptocurrency ATMs quite a bit. But thank you
[1:41] Speaker 3: for tuning in. I just thought about this right before
[1:44] Speaker 3: we started the show today. by tuning in every Tuesday morning,
[1:49] Speaker 3: you are getting your weekly dose of scam prevention because
[1:52] Speaker 3: that's what we do here at Rose. We've been around
[1:55] Speaker 3: for five years and we are in the prevention business.
[1:58] Speaker 3: We want people not to get scammed at all. And
[2:03] Speaker 3: we want to stop it at the beginning. We don't
[2:05] Speaker 3: want to try to claw the money back after it's
[2:08] Speaker 3: been sent to the scammers. So we want people... not
[2:13] Speaker 3: to be scammed at all. So thank you for tuning in.
[2:16] Speaker 3: Joyce will be back next week. So let's get into it.
[2:19] Speaker 3: So I get to write for a newspaper in Southern Arizona.
[2:23] Speaker 3: It's called the green Valley news. And I've been writing
[2:27] Speaker 3: for them for quite a while. I've written over 30
[2:29] Speaker 3: articles and I, I really enjoy doing it because it
[2:34] Speaker 3: challenges me to come up with new topics and just
[2:38] Speaker 3: new angles to get people's attention and, you know, with
[2:41] Speaker 3: our ultimate goal of preventing people from getting scammed. So
[2:45] Speaker 3: in August, there was an article in the green Valley news. Um,
[2:49] Speaker 3: the reporters, Kim Smith, she's some, she is someone I've
[2:52] Speaker 3: known for a long time, excellent reporter. And her article
[2:57] Speaker 3: was all about a green Valley man, a local man
[3:01] Speaker 3: who lost $ 300, 000 in two separate scams. So the first
[3:06] Speaker 3: scam started in, with a text from an unknown number.
[3:10] Speaker 3: Does it sound familiar? I've talked about this before. We're
[3:13] Speaker 3: going to talk about it again. And eventually this person
[3:18] Speaker 3: who contacted him suggested an investment in Bitcoin. So this,
[3:23] Speaker 3: this story is a scary reminder that the criminals are
[3:26] Speaker 3: basically like predators out there looking for their next victim.
[3:30] Speaker 3: They could be lurking via email, text message, social media, phone.
[3:37] Speaker 2: Calls, whatever it is.
[3:40] Speaker 3: But it seems like it's happening more and more. You know,
[3:42] Speaker 3: the numbers get worse every year, the reported numbers. And
[3:47] Speaker 3: for a while there, it seemed like I would meet
[3:48] Speaker 3: a victim quarterly, maybe monthly. Now I'm hearing about victims,
[3:53] Speaker 3: sometimes even speaking to them weekly. It's absolutely getting worse.
[3:58] Speaker 3: And because I interact with a multitude of victims, I
[4:02] Speaker 3: know just from the trends that the criminal's are right
[4:06] Speaker 3: now their preference is to steal money through cryptocurrency ATMs.
[4:11] Speaker 3: It used to be the prepaid credit cards where they
[4:14] Speaker 3: send you to a big box store. Have you purchased
[4:16] Speaker 3: a prepaid debit card? Have you open it up, scratch
[4:20] Speaker 3: the numbers off and take a picture and send it
[4:24] Speaker 3: to them and you lose your money this way. Now, um,
[4:27] Speaker 3: they're using the cryptocurrency ATMs in the case I mentioned
[4:30] Speaker 3: above in the green Valley news, um, The victim in
[4:34] Speaker 3: this case was sent to a cryptocurrency ATM in South Tucson.
[4:37] Speaker 3: So the scammer actually had this person drive a pretty
[4:41] Speaker 3: good distance going to another town to be able to
[4:44] Speaker 3: use the cryptocurrency ATM. So how do these scams start?
[4:49] Speaker 3: We're all about prevention and prevention is recognizing the scam.
[4:53] Speaker 3: So criminals will text a wrong number on purpose and
[4:58] Speaker 3: they do it knowing that most of us are raised
[5:04] Speaker 3: well and we have kindness. And if someone sends the
[5:08] Speaker 3: wrong number, the nice part of us responds back and said, oh,
[5:12] Speaker 3: you have the wrong number. And if they can get
[5:16] Speaker 3: you to text back, they'll say, I'm sorry.
[5:18] Speaker 2: And then they'll say, where are you from? And I
[5:22] Speaker 2: check the number carefully.
[5:24] Speaker 3: It's my mistake. Let me buy you a cup of coffee.
[5:26] Speaker 2: Where do you live? And it goes back and forth.
[5:27] Speaker 2: And you know what? It's kind of fun.
[5:29] Speaker 3: You know, here's the real scary thing, too. these calls
[5:33] Speaker 3: are now automated through artificial intelligence.
[5:36] Speaker 2: They have bots.
[5:37] Speaker 3: They have these programs that just send out millions of
[5:40] Speaker 3: wrong text numbers, just hoping people bite and AI will
[5:45] Speaker 3: start a conversation at a certain point. They do transfer
[5:48] Speaker 3: it to a human to make it more personal. So
[5:51] Speaker 3: to give you an example, I shared this earlier this year,
[5:54] Speaker 3: but I want to share it again because it's kind
[5:55] Speaker 3: of a, a good story.
[5:58] Speaker 2: I received a text number. I'm sorry.
[6:00] Speaker 3: I received a text message. And the text came from
[6:04] Speaker 3: an unknown number. I later figured out the area code
[6:07] Speaker 3: was Connecticut. Phone number was not in my contact list
[6:11] Speaker 3: and the text did not contain any words. It was
[6:14] Speaker 3: just a picture of a puppy. And I mean, I
[6:17] Speaker 3: knew immediately it was a scam because this is what
[6:20] Speaker 3: I do. This is my part-time job. Um, so I
[6:23] Speaker 3: decided to respond back because I knew it'd be a
[6:26] Speaker 3: good learning experience. It'd be a good topic for a
[6:28] Speaker 3: radio show and for an article. Um, I actually recommend
[6:33] Speaker 3: don't texting back because you don't know. I recently learned
[6:39] Speaker 3: that if you download a picture, you could actually download
[6:42] Speaker 3: some malware, malicious software to your computer. So don't even
[6:46] Speaker 3: mess with these people. I'm a quasi-professional when it comes
[6:50] Speaker 3: to this, so I'm very careful. But don't respond back.
[6:54] Speaker 3: But anyways, I did. I was rolling the dice a little.
[6:57] Speaker 3: And I wrote back, who is this? You know, that's
[7:00] Speaker 3: what they're expecting. And the person says, Annie. And she said,
[7:04] Speaker 3: don't you remember me? You gave me this dog at
[7:08] Speaker 3: your at your birthday party. And of course, what they
[7:12] Speaker 3: want you to say is, well, I think you have
[7:13] Speaker 3: the wrong number. And it goes back and forth. And
[7:17] Speaker 3: eventually I ended it because it was going to go
[7:20] Speaker 3: on forever. There's all kinds of variations of these wrong
[7:23] Speaker 3: texting scams. You might get one with a photo of
[7:26] Speaker 3: a bottle of wine and the person will say, hey,
[7:28] Speaker 3: did you get the bottle of wine I sent over?
[7:31] Speaker 3: And you're going to say, I didn't get a bottle
[7:32] Speaker 3: of wine.
[7:33] Speaker 2: Who is this?
[7:34] Speaker 3: Or, hey, Bob. Are we still on for coffee tomorrow?
[7:37] Speaker 3: And you're like, no, I think you got the wrong number.
[7:39] Speaker 3: So when you see these text messages, you do not
[7:42] Speaker 3: have to be nice. Just delete them.
[7:45] Speaker 2: Okay.
[7:45] Speaker 3: It'll save you a lot of time. So let's say,
[7:50] Speaker 3: let's give a scenario where actually someone gets a wrong
[7:53] Speaker 3: text and they start going back and forth and they
[7:55] Speaker 3: have this ongoing conversation and It goes on for days
[7:59] Speaker 3: or weeks, checking in every day.
[8:00] Speaker 2: Hey, what did you do this weekend?
[8:02] Speaker 3: Hey, when I'm out in your part of the country,
[8:06] Speaker 3: let's go out to dinner because I think I've met
[8:08] Speaker 3: an online friend. They're very patient. And the criminals will
[8:14] Speaker 3: only mention investing in cryptocurrency after they think they've developed
[8:19] Speaker 3: sufficient trust.
[8:21] Speaker 2: They might say.
[8:23] Speaker 3: Hey, my uncle invests in cryptocurrency and he's done really well.
[8:28] Speaker 3: And he lets me invite a few people that I
[8:31] Speaker 3: trust into his purchases. And they said, I, and the
[8:36] Speaker 3: scammer will say, I feel like I know you, even
[8:38] Speaker 3: though we've never met person. If you want to invest
[8:42] Speaker 3: one or $ 2, 000 in cryptocurrency, I'll, I'll, my uncle will
[8:46] Speaker 3: allow it.
[8:47] Speaker 2: And so you do it.
[8:49] Speaker 3: And then they actually show you a fake portal and,
[8:52] Speaker 3: that you can put on your screen and it looks
[8:54] Speaker 3: like the cryptocurrency is increasing and you get excited and
[8:58] Speaker 3: they actually let you withdraw money. So, um, that's how
[9:03] Speaker 3: it works. And, but it always starts where you're putting
[9:07] Speaker 3: cash into a cryptocurrency ATM. If you ever find yourself
[9:11] Speaker 3: in front of a cryptocurrency ATM and they look like
[9:14] Speaker 3: regular ATMs, they usually found it smoke shops and liquor
[9:18] Speaker 3: stores and convenience stores or grocery stores. you need to
[9:22] Speaker 3: walk away. It's a complete scam.
[9:23] Speaker 2: And if you see.
[9:24] Speaker 3: Somebody in front of a cryptocurrency ATM and they look
[9:28] Speaker 3: even a little bit stressed, go check on them, see
[9:30] Speaker 3: how they're doing, make sure they're not getting scammed. So
[9:34] Speaker 3: let's talk about these crypto ATMs. Um, the Iowa attorney
[9:38] Speaker 3: general's office in 2025 actually did an investigation. They issued
[9:42] Speaker 3: subpoenas to all these cryptocurrency ATM companies and And they
[9:47] Speaker 3: found that at least 94 percent of the transactions using
[9:51] Speaker 3: cryptocurrency ATMs from these two main companies were fraudulent. These
[9:57] Speaker 3: scams cost Iowans about 20 million in losses over a
[10:01] Speaker 3: three-year period. And so let's just back up a step.
[10:06] Speaker 3: Why do we even have these machines? Because they're not
[10:09] Speaker 3: a good deal. Financially, they're a horrible deal. Let's say
[10:14] Speaker 3: you just had some money, And you wanted to invest
[10:17] Speaker 3: in cryptocurrency because it's legal and a lot of people
[10:21] Speaker 3: are doing it. And there's nothing illegal about cryptocurrency itself.
[10:25] Speaker 3: It's only when scammers are involved. So let's say you
[10:29] Speaker 3: decide to invest in cryptocurrency. Don't go to a cryptocurrency
[10:33] Speaker 3: ATM because the big deal is. The fees on these
[10:36] Speaker 3: machines can be 20% or more. So to give you
[10:39] Speaker 3: an example, let's say I had $ 100 in cash, five
[10:43] Speaker 3: $ 20 bills, and I walked up to a cryptocurrency ATM,
[10:48] Speaker 3: signed in, created a password, put the $ 100 in, I
[10:52] Speaker 3: might only get $ 75 or $ 80 of cryptocurrency. It's a
[10:57] Speaker 3: horrible exchange rate. There's fees.
[11:01] Speaker 2: It's bad.
[11:02] Speaker 3: It's like withdrawing cash at an ATM at a casino.
[11:05] Speaker 3: You're going to pay all kinds of fees. At the casino,
[11:09] Speaker 3: you're going to pay your bank out of network fees
[11:13] Speaker 3: and all that stuff. If you do want to invest
[11:16] Speaker 3: in cryptocurrency on your own, and you've done your research
[11:21] Speaker 3: and you've talked to someone in your family or your
[11:23] Speaker 3: neighbor who's someone you trust, someone you know in person,
[11:27] Speaker 3: you can do it from your home computer or your
[11:29] Speaker 3: smartphone and it'd be a whole lot cheaper. So many
[11:31] Speaker 3: of us in the scam prevention world keep asking the question,
[11:35] Speaker 3: why do we even have these cryptocurrency ATMs at all?
[11:41] Speaker 3: So fortunately, lawmakers in many states have stepped in and
[11:46] Speaker 3: they've stepped up to the plate and they have started
[11:50] Speaker 3: putting in legislation to protect their residents. So in 2026, um,
[11:55] Speaker 3: three States, um, enacted total statewide bands, Indiana, Tennessee, and Minnesota.
[12:02] Speaker 3: And then Hawaii did an interesting one. Um, they enacted
[12:06] Speaker 3: a new state law that bands cash deposits at cryptocurrency ATMs.
[12:11] Speaker 3: So the ATMs are still legal. They're still there, but
[12:13] Speaker 3: you can't deposit cash. which is a good thing. So
[12:17] Speaker 3: I applaud Hawaii for being creative. And more than a
[12:21] Speaker 3: dozen other states are actively pursuing legislation that would either
[12:26] Speaker 3: heavily restrict these machines or completely ban them. So I'm
[12:31] Speaker 3: in Rose, our nonprofit, we are based in Arizona and
[12:35] Speaker 3: last year in 2025, our government enacted a law that
[12:40] Speaker 3: provides protections to consumers but cryptocurrency ATMs are still legal. Um,
[12:46] Speaker 3: I like the protections that were put in place, but
[12:50] Speaker 3: it almost, um, legitimizes them, uh, in a way where
[12:55] Speaker 3: the government's blessed them to exist. Um, I'm hoping the
[12:59] Speaker 3: leaders in our state will follow the leads of the
[13:02] Speaker 3: other States and just seek an outright ban because I
[13:06] Speaker 3: just cannot stand these machines. Um, I am frustrated and tired,
[13:11] Speaker 3: and saddened every time I talk to someone or I
[13:14] Speaker 3: read another article keeps us very motivated. Joyce, me, the
[13:20] Speaker 3: rest of the board, our advisory committee, we all see
[13:24] Speaker 3: the financial carnage of scams and we see how these
[13:29] Speaker 3: cryptocurrency ATMs are so easily used by scammers. Now, as
[13:34] Speaker 3: I said, at Rose, we don't want anyone to have
[13:38] Speaker 3: their money stolen. Once you insert cash into one of
[13:42] Speaker 3: these cryptocurrency ATMs, the money is almost always long gone.
[13:47] Speaker 3: There are ways to claw it back. There is a
[13:51] Speaker 3: digital trail called the blockchain, but you have to get
[13:56] Speaker 3: law enforcement's attention and you got to find someone who
[13:58] Speaker 3: knows what they're doing and you have to do it
[14:00] Speaker 3: really fast. So there's three things that are very difficult
[14:02] Speaker 3: to do. But if someone reaches out to you to
[14:07] Speaker 3: invest in a cryptocurrency ATM, report it to law enforcement.
[14:12] Speaker 3: And if you've lost money, you definitely have to report
[14:14] Speaker 3: it to the FBI, IC3. gov. IC3. gov, that's their Internet Crime
[14:21] Speaker 3: Complaint Center. can report it to the FTC and you
[14:24] Speaker 3: can also report it to your local law enforcement agency.
[14:28] Speaker 2: So just remember.
[14:30] Speaker 3: Nothing wrong with cryptocurrency in itself. There's thousands of them.
[14:35] Speaker 3: They've been around for a long enough where, you know, they're,
[14:39] Speaker 3: they're legitimate, they're legal, but never, ever invest loan or
[14:46] Speaker 3: trust anybody. with anything related to cryptocurrency. If you don't
[14:52] Speaker 3: know who they are, they approached you, you met them online.
[14:55] Speaker 3: They're scammers just waiting to come after us. I mean,
[14:58] Speaker 3: just today, I, um, I read a, uh, an article
[15:03] Speaker 3: from a paper in New York and, and a lady
[15:05] Speaker 3: lost a criminal stole $ 600, 000 from a lady and it
[15:10] Speaker 3: all started online. They're coming after us every single day.
[15:14] Speaker 3: They're absolutely relentless. It's way too profitable for them to stop.
[15:18] Speaker 3: And if you ever hear anybody in your circle of friends, family, neighbors, coworkers, anybody,
[15:27] Speaker 3: you overhear them talking about investing in cryptocurrency online with
[15:31] Speaker 3: someone that they don't know, start asking questions, even if
[15:35] Speaker 3: it's uncomfortable. Because you know what? You could save them
[15:39] Speaker 3: their life savings. These criminals don't stop with a few
[15:42] Speaker 3: thousand dollars. They literally are looking to steal hundreds of
[15:46] Speaker 3: thousands of dollars, if not millions of dollars. And the
[15:50] Speaker 3: results are tragic. People are bankrupt. People have to move
[15:53] Speaker 3: out of their house. And in the worst times, in
[15:59] Speaker 3: the worst instances people actually commit suicide after they've lost
[16:03] Speaker 3: all this money. So there are real world ramifications. It's
[16:07] Speaker 3: more than just money. It's, it's just absolutely tragic. All right.
[16:12] Speaker 3: To close today, please, please, please sign up for our
[16:15] Speaker 3: newsletter at roseadvocacy.org right on the screen. There's our website.
[16:20] Speaker 3: Super easy. You just go to our website, the bottom
[16:23] Speaker 3: of the page, there's a blue button. You click on
[16:26] Speaker 3: that blue button. All we're asking for is your name
[16:29] Speaker 3: and your email.
[16:30] Speaker 2: You sign up.
[16:31] Speaker 3: You're going to get an email at the beginning of
[16:33] Speaker 3: the month, and it just talks about scam prevention and
[16:37] Speaker 3: ways that you can help us help others, latest scams,
[16:43] Speaker 3: just good tips. So if today is your weekly dose
[16:48] Speaker 3: of scam prevention, the monthly newsletter is your monthly dose
[16:53] Speaker 3: of scam prevention. And then when you sign up for
[16:55] Speaker 3: our list, we also send out a much shorter email
[17:00] Speaker 3: on Tuesday mornings. We call them tip Tuesdays. And it's
[17:04] Speaker 3: just one scam prevention tip on Tuesdays. So that way
[17:11] Speaker 3: we don't live scared. We don't live in fear, but
[17:14] Speaker 3: we're aware of our surroundings. And we always ask ourselves,
[17:19] Speaker 3: could this be a scam? whether it's an email, a
[17:22] Speaker 3: phone call, a text message, someone reaching out on social media,
[17:25] Speaker 3: move slow, never panic. Time is our friend. You recognize
[17:30] Speaker 3: the scams, you identify it and be ready to hang
[17:33] Speaker 3: up the phone or delete that email or delete that text.
[17:37] Speaker 3: So I appreciate everyone tuning in today. If you like
[17:40] Speaker 3: this show, please share it with friends and family and neighbors.
[17:45] Speaker 3: You can find it on our website. I mean, on
[17:48] Speaker 3: our Facebook page, it'll be posted. It'll also be on LinkedIn.
[17:53] Speaker 3: And then you can go to Let's Talk About Scams
[17:55] Speaker 3: dot com is where we post these the podcast for
[18:00] Speaker 3: the show. Thank you for tuning in. And Joyce will
[18:03] Speaker 3: be back next week. Thank you very much.
[18:06] Speaker 1: Well, that's all the knowledge for this episode. Tune in
[18:09] Speaker 1: every Tuesday at 8 a.m. Pacific time on K4HD Radio
[18:13] Speaker 1: at K4HD. com as Joyce explores a variety of knowledge so
[18:18] Speaker 1: you have the power to make scam protection your healthy habit.
[18:23] Speaker 1: And until then, feel free to reach out to Joyce
[18:26] Speaker 1: and let's talk about scams.

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