Cryptocurrency scams reached alarming levels in the United States in 2025, with Americans reporting more than $11.36 billion in crypto-related losses across 181,565 complaints, according to figures from the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).
Crypto-related losses accounted for more than half of the $20.87 billion in total reported internet-crime losses during the year, highlighting how digital assets have become deeply embedded in modern fraud schemes.
While fraudulent crypto investment platforms accounted for the majority of losses, another channel is drawing growing regulatory attention: cryptocurrency ATMs and kiosks located in convenience stores, gas stations, shopping centers, and other easily accessible locations.
Reported losses involving these machines reached approximately $389 million in 2025, with older Americans suffering a disproportionate share of the damage.
Crypto investment scams remain the biggest threat
Despite growing concern around Bitcoin ATMs, investment fraud remained the dominant source of cryptocurrency-related losses.
Reported crypto investment scams generated approximately $7.2 billion in losses across more than 61,000 complaints, representing a significant increase from the previous year.
These schemes are often more sophisticated than simple phishing attacks.
Fraudsters may spend weeks or months building relationships with victims through social media, messaging applications, dating platforms, or unsolicited investment conversations.
Victims are then directed toward fraudulent trading platforms that appear legitimate and may even display fabricated profits.
The scam often escalates gradually.
Victims initially invest small amounts, see apparent returns, and are encouraged to deposit increasingly larger sums. When they eventually attempt to withdraw their money, they may be asked to pay additional “taxes,” “verification fees,” or “liquidity charges.”
By the time the fraud becomes clear, substantial amounts of money may already have been converted into cryptocurrency and transferred beyond immediate recovery.
Crypto ATM scams are becoming a major public safety concern
Crypto kiosks represent a smaller portion of total fraud losses, but their rapid growth has attracted increasing attention from law enforcement and local governments.
The FBI recorded approximately 13,460 complaints involving cryptocurrency kiosks in 2025, resulting in around $389 million in reported losses, a sharp increase from the previous year.
These machines allow users to convert cash into cryptocurrency and send it directly to a wallet address.
That convenience can also be exploited by scammers.
Victims may receive calls or messages impersonating government agencies, banks, technology companies, law enforcement officers, or businesses. They are then pressured into withdrawing cash, visiting a nearby crypto ATM, purchasing cryptocurrency, and sending it to a wallet controlled by the scammer.
Once the transaction is completed, recovering the funds can be extremely difficult.
The ATM itself is generally not the origin of the fraud. Instead, it becomes the final payment rail used by scammers after social engineering has convinced the victim to transfer money.
Older Americans suffered the heaviest kiosk losses
The impact has been particularly severe among older Americans.
People aged 60 and above reportedly accounted for approximately $257.4 million of the $389 million lost through crypto kiosk-related scams, representing roughly two-thirds of total reported losses in the category.
This demographic can be particularly vulnerable to impersonation and urgency-based scams.
Fraudsters frequently create situations designed to prevent victims from seeking advice. They may claim that a bank account has been compromised, taxes are overdue, an arrest is imminent, or money must immediately be moved into a supposedly “secure” crypto wallet.
Victims are sometimes instructed to remain on the phone while traveling to a cryptocurrency ATM and completing the transaction.
This combination of psychological pressure, irreversible transactions, and easily accessible cash-to-crypto infrastructure has turned crypto kiosks into an increasingly important focus for regulators.
US cities begin taking action against crypto ATMs
Growing fraud losses have prompted some local governments to impose stricter restrictions.
Spokane, Washington, moved to ban cryptocurrency ATMs within city limits in 2025 following concerns from law enforcement about residents losing money through kiosk-enabled scams.
Nearby Spokane Valley later adopted similar restrictions amid concerns about documented financial losses linked to the machines.
Washington, D.C., has also taken legal action involving the industry. The district’s attorney general sued crypto ATM operator Athena Bitcoin, alleging serious consumer-protection issues involving transactions associated with its local machines.
These actions reflect a broader policy debate.
Regulators must determine whether measures such as transaction limits, mandatory waiting periods, prominent scam warnings, enhanced identity verification, refund mechanisms, and stricter operator oversight can reduce fraud sufficiently, or whether some jurisdictions will move toward outright bans.
The US has become the center of the global Bitcoin ATM market
The scale of the issue is amplified by the enormous number of cryptocurrency ATMs operating across the United States.
The country hosts tens of thousands of machines and represents the overwhelming majority of the global crypto ATM market.
Their accessibility is part of their appeal.
Users can purchase cryptocurrency without navigating a conventional crypto exchange, making kiosks useful for people who prefer cash or have limited access to online financial services.
But the same accessibility creates vulnerabilities.
A scammer does not need to teach a victim how to open an exchange account, complete a bank transfer, and execute an on-chain withdrawal.
They can simply direct the victim to a nearby machine.
That simplicity makes crypto ATMs particularly effective as a payment endpoint for social-engineering scams.
FBI prevention efforts are stopping some losses before they happen
Law enforcement is increasingly focusing on intervention before victims transfer additional money.
Through Operation Level Up, the FBI identifies potential victims of cryptocurrency investment fraud and contacts them while scams may still be active.
The initiative reportedly notified 3,780 potential victims during 2025 and helped prevent an estimated $225.9 million in additional losses that year.
Since launching in 2024, the program has reportedly prevented more than $500 million in potential losses.
The approach represents an important shift in cybercrime enforcement.
Because cryptocurrency transactions can move globally within minutes and are often difficult to reverse, recovering stolen funds after a scam may be challenging.
Preventing the transaction before it occurs can therefore be far more effective.
Crypto fraud is increasingly a social engineering problem
The scale of America’s crypto scam losses reveals an important distinction.
Cryptocurrency itself is rarely the entire scam.
In many cases, criminals use traditional fraud techniques such as impersonation, fake investment opportunities, romance manipulation, urgency, and psychological pressure. Cryptocurrency simply provides the settlement mechanism.
That means preventing losses will require more than blockchain surveillance.
Crypto exchanges and kiosk operators may need stronger transaction monitoring and intervention systems. Banks may need better mechanisms for identifying unusual cash withdrawals. Law enforcement will need faster information sharing, while consumers need clearer warnings at the exact moment suspicious transactions occur.
With Americans reporting more than $11 billion in crypto-related losses in a single year, the challenge has moved far beyond a niche cryptocurrency problem.
As digital assets become easier to access, the next major battle in crypto adoption may not simply be about regulation or technology. It will be about building consumer-protection systems capable of stopping scammers before irreversible digital transactions turn manipulation into permanent financial loss.
