Bitcoin ATM scams on the rise in North Dakota, AARP calls for regulation

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Bitcoin ATM scams are on the rise, with North Dakota witnessing an uptick in crime across several counties. According to reports, scammers have been calling residents, urging them to pay certain legal fees in Bitcoin and some other gift cards for missing jury duties.

According to several reports coming out of Stanley County, the Sheriff’s Office told the United Judicial System (UJS) that it had received more than 30 reports regarding suspicious phone calls over the last few days. Most of the callers have been telling Stanley County residents that there is a $2,000 warrant for their arrest, instructing them to visit local convenience stores to send money using digital assets like Bitcoin.

Bitcoin ATM scams rock Stanley County

According to the Chief Deputy of the Stanley County Sheriff’s Office, Greg Swanson, these criminals have various methods of carrying out their activities, using scare tactics as the major example. “They would keep them on the phone while they drove to the bitcoin machine and tell them how to go about this action,” Swanson said. He also added that the scammers have been trying to use the Sheriff’s Office phone numbers to appear legitimate.

Some scammers have also been using the Sheriff’s Office’s logo when sending scam emails in an apparent effort to appear legitimate and convincing, the Chief Deputy mentioned. The UJS have also alerted the general public to the growing menace of calls for missing jury duties for subsequent payments, telling them that they would never call anyone regarding jury duty.

“We would never call someone, we certainly would never ever demand money over the phone, we wouldn’t accept or look for things such as bitcoins, cryptocurrencies, those are really big red flags,” Greg Sattizahn, the state court administrator for UJS said.

The scam has been netting the criminals some heavy amounts, with one Stanley County resident noting that he lost $4,000 to the scammers. While the Sheriff’s office continues to investigate, it has yet to find any suspects.

According to Jesse Schmidt from the Better Business Bureau South Dakota Region, criminals usually swing for a home run when carrying out their scams. He mentioned the way they carry out their crimes, noting that they prey on people’s ignorance to make money.

“These scams are dialing for dollars, they are placing hundreds if not thousands of phone calls a day, all they need is for a few people to send them hundreds or thousands of dollars at a time then they’re going to move on to the next caller,” said Schmidt.

AARP calls for regulation of cryptocurrency kiosks

Meanwhile, AARP has called for regulation of cryptocurrency kiosks amid growing concern over the increase in fraud. The group is calling on North Dakota Governor Kelly Armstrong to sign a bill that will regulate the kiosks’ activities. According to an FBI report in 2023, Americans lost about $5.6 billion to cryptocurrency scams, with North Dakota losing $6 million.

House Bill 1447 would allow the state to protect consumers by licensing cryptocurrency kiosk operators, displaying fraud warnings on the machines, and mandating the operators to enable compulsory printed receipts detailing the full transaction information. “These machines look like ATMs, and so people are inserting their money, thinking it’s secure,” said Janelle Moos, advocacy director for AARP North Dakota.

Janelle Moos added that once users send digital assets into a scammer’s wallet, the money is gone, noting that there is no way to track it. She noted that the criminals have realized this and are using this tool to scam residents in the state out of their hard-earned cash. AARP also mentioned that the bill would offer important safeguards and help protect the older population and other vulnerable consumers in North Dakota from falling victim to crypto scams.

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