Washington City Bans Bitcoin ATMs Amid Surge in Crypto Scams

The Spokane City Council in Washington, unanimously voted to ban the virtual currency kiosks throughout the city, including the KRIPTO ATMs, making it the first Washington city to bring such a ban.

The prohibition affects about 50 crypto kiosk operating at city borders in stores, gasoline stations and main merchants, including Safeway groceries and Walgreens pharmacy. Operators must remove their machines within 60 days or face civil offenses and potential recall of their business permit, according to Ordinance.

This move was made to “protecting the vulnerable residents of Spokane” from the fraud involved in kiosks, who became “a preferred tool for frauds that want to deceive victims undoubtedly,” Council member Paul Dillon said on Monday.

Crypto “offers criminals to exploitation because it is decentralized and distributed,” “The text from the Regulations writes, citing a” limited monitoring “that is available as a recourse if one becomes victims of theft or fraud.

City officials initially wanted State Level Regulation in December 2024 through the resolution of the Council that supports transaction limitations and improved detection requirements. When the state legislation paused, the Spokane continued the local actions.

The Ordinance responds to the increasing financial devastation, with the FBI reporting 6.5 billion dollars of fraud, fraud and extortion throughout the country from 2023. List the FBI, the City Council noticed that out of a total of $ 5.6 billion, losses were due to a virtual currency fraud of kiosk.

Of them, older Americans The most difficult were affected, making $ 2.8 billion or about 30%, despite their age group was only 17% of the population in the country. Washington State, meanwhile, is classified as the tenth most vulnerable country, has since then has $ 368 million in total losses.

FBI findings are associated with the earlier proposal of Senator Illinois Dick Durbina, who presented Law on Prevention of Fraud Kripto ATM in February. For now, account He did not advance beyond the Committee phase.

KRIPTO ATM Fraud “Growing Question”

Spokane Police Detective Tim Schwering said he was involved in everyday calls about residents who lost thousands of fraud related to kiosk. At least three suicide in the district of Spokane are associated with these frauds, confirmed Schwering with a spokesman in the previous report.

“I have had numerous cases where that money paid there will end up in places like China, North Korea, Russia,” Schwering Council, by A report from local media Central square.

Schwering recounted that fraudsters represent someone from their department, or even someone from internal income service, advising goals to buy cryptocurrencies from kiosk to protect their money. The fraud, which often target seniors, sometimes threatens victims with jail if they do not adhere to, Schwering explained.

“Unfortunately, many in our community have become a victim of this growing question, with many individuals lost their savings,” Schwering said.