Bitcoin ATM scammers successfully targeted elderly people last year, stealing $110 million from them in a scam that began with a “concerned” call to customer service.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reports that the number of victims of fraud involving money transferred through Bitcoin ATMs (electronic crypto kiosks that allow users to buy and sell Bitcoin) has increased nearly tenfold since 2020. data Provided to NBC News.
The data also shows that Americans over 60 are more than three times more likely to be victims than younger adults.
“These bitcoin ATMs appear to have opened up a kind of gateway for scammers targeting seniors for their cryptocurrency,” Emma Fletcher, a senior data researcher at the FTC, told NBC News.
An FTC spokesman did not immediately respond to The Washington Post's request for information.
According to an FTC investigation, in this scam, a scammer typically contacts the victim, claiming to be a customer service representative or official, and informs them of an attempted identity theft or account compromise.
The criminals will text you a QR code that is linked to your digital wallet.
Victims scan the code and deposit money into a Bitcoin ATM, thinking they are protecting their assets, but the money ends up in the hands of the criminals.
Marilyn LoCascio, 76, was scammed out of $31,500 by a group of fraudsters posing as an Apple tech support specialist, a bank representative and two government officials.
The plan began when she received what appeared to be a security alert on her iPad.
“I just called the number without thinking anything of it. It was a non-Apple number,” LoCascio, who lives in Indiana, told NBC News.
“A man who appeared to be a technician answered the phone and even gave me a case ID. Things started to move from there.”
The elderly More vulnerable According to the University of Florida, older adults are more susceptible to financial exploitation because their cognitive functions and memory are not as sharp as younger generations.
They also lack support and solitude, and their ability to hone their “intuition” is reduced.
There is Approximately 40,000 people Bitcoin ATMs exist all over the world, but are banned in countries such as the UK and Singapore.
Bitcoin ATMs that are legal in the United States look and function similarly to regular ATMs, but deposit and withdraw cryptocurrency instead of cash.
You can find them at convenience stores, gas stations, laundromats, etc.
