Last week my friend’s mom was recently scammed… she is older (in her 70s)… lives in a senior community that is getting targeted with cryptocurrency scams… got a message on her computer… said she was hacked… downloaded an app… ended up on the phone with the scammer/and or bank… was directed to a local bitcoin/atm machine to save her finances… bought just over 25k of bitcoin and sent it to their wallet… local law enforcement is aware of the scam, but not really able to help track down the funds… I looked at the bitcoin wallet address and see that the money went in and moved to another wallet and I am not really able to track it much further… I encouraged my friend to report this to the FBI as well…
Has anyone else dealt with this? Any other suggestions or options or next steps I should encourage? Thanks in advance for taking the time to help.
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I’m really sorry to hear that! I don’t thinks there is much anyone can do sadly, except warn people of it so it doesn’t happen in the first place. Sorry to hear that! It’s crazy how common that is, especially with older people.
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Thanks for the reply… It’s unfortunate… Trying to at least get this brand of cryptocurrency/atm machines to place a warning sign up. It has been used multiple times for this scam and maybe a warning and getting the word out is the best I can do at this time.
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Quite frankly, those bitcoin atms should be made illegal. If someone needs bitcoin for something, they can use an exchange. If they don’t know how to do all that, they shouldn’t be in the crypto space.
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What are you talking about???
Without a BTC ATM, the only way to get BTC without a bank and government is to mine it.
We could say P2P but that is actually illegal on par with buying/selling drugs. All other methods involve a bank and credit cards (AKA the enemy). If I wanted to use banks and cards, I would also be using the USD. It would be oxy moronic to pay fee’s for funny money that has to pay through fiat/governments first.
You’re proposing that all BTC acquired be purchased through a for profit company.
“Made Illegal” Just the kind of authoritarianism Satoshi wanted to give to the world.
If we went around outlawing things because stupid people hurt themselves, the world would be a padded white room.
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Every single BTC ATM has a giant red, Orange, and yellow banner on the screen and on the machine (graphics) warning of scams. Every single BTC ATM requires a license or ID for purchased/sales over the federal tax amounts ($250, 650, 900).
(she had to produce a state issued ID to purchase said BTC, along with re-reading the warnings list as part of the agreement)
They are just as safe as a normal ATM machine. They are regulated and monitored by your government. The government collects sales tax from the machine. Just like tax on Recreational Marijuana, it does not mean your nation has to protect you, they only need to lawfully tax sales of any item.
We could list off items less intelligent people hurt themselves with all day long. Guns , cars , planes, sharp pieces of cut paper. Their jobs. The Military.
I’m shocked that a group of crypto people come together to support banning our own thing. … Banning anything. We engage in illegal money creation and performance (Cryptocurrency). At what point will you realize what team you are on?
Does anyone need to be reminded. Your government does not create, regulate or protect crypto. It’s 100% on you. You are your own bank, you are your own security. By engaging crypto you are hurting your nation by shorting the value of it’s money. It’s ridiculous to engage in crypto and then support national laws from the nation you’re destroying financially.
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I appreciate the comments… This particular brand of cryptocurrency machines unfortunately does not have the warnings/messaging other bitcoin ATM machines have implemented. Trying to work with the family and the vendor to change that.
I am not seeing any other additional steps to take from the public and private messages. Local law enforcement has been notified along with the FBI. Thanks for contributing and hopefully your family/friends will steer clear of these scams.
Thanks again for all the comments and suggestions. This thread can be closed by the moderator if needed.
Regards,
J
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Thats very true. just seems like there aren’t really very many good use cases for bitcoin atms. People who mine it, do it for fun, or for profit. Buying it from an atm is neither.
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