On February 25, US Senator Dick Durbin from Illinois unveiled new legislation designed to curb fraud associated with cryptocurrency ATMs in the United States.
Durbin recounted an incident where a scammer, impersonating a law enforcement officer, coerced a constituent into depositing $15,000 into a crypto ATM to avoid a fictitious arrest. He identified this as part of a “troubling trend” of scams involving crypto ATMs, of which there are about 30,000 nationwide.
Durbin introduced the “Crypto ATM Scam Prevention Act” to tackle scams, especially those targeting older adults, by establishing “common-sense protections” for crypto ATM operations.
The proposed legislation would mandate operators to alert consumers to potential scams and implement measures to prevent fraud. It also seeks to minimize consumer losses in such scenarios and equip law enforcement with new tools to pursue criminals.
