AARP Seeks Consumer Protections Against Fraud

Rhode Island consumers lost more than $10 million in cryptocurrency scams in 2023, according to the most recent FBI data.

An increasingly popular tool among criminals in these cases? Crypto ATMs, which have popped up across the Ocean State in gas stations, convenience stores and other businesses.

Cryptocurrency is a digital currency that is not sponsored or managed by any government. Fraud losses through crypto ATMs increased almost tenfold nationally from 2020 to 2023 and surpassed $65 million in the first half of 2024, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Officials say that because fraud is underreported, the true numbers are likely far higher.

AARP Rhode Island is currently working with state lawmakers in Providence on legislation that would increase consumer protections and state oversight of crypto ATMs.

The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Julie Casimiro (D-North Kingstown), among others, would require crypto ATMs to be licensed as money transmittal machines, which would trigger greater state oversight, and mandate that machine owners post warnings about the risk of crypto scams. The bill would also put in place a daily transaction limit, a refund provision for certain users and a mandate for detailed receipts for all customers.

There are currently more than 120 crypto ATMs in Rhode Island’s convenience stores, laundromats, liquor stores, smoke shops and other locations, Casimiro said in an email responding to the Bulletin’s questions about the bill.

Because the machines have no transaction limits, they are “extremely dangerous for our elderly residents” who may be targeted by scammers, she added. “Once the process is complete, there is virtually no way for the money to be recovered after the scam is revealed.”

State Sen. Victoria Gu (D-Westerly) has sponsored a similar bill in that chamber.

The FTC says that in the first half of 2024, people 60 and older were more than three times as likely as younger adults to report losing money via crypto ATMs.

Matt Netto, associate state director of advocacy for AARP Rhode Island, says crypto ATM scammers use the same tactics to steal money from victims as with other types of fraud—such as impersonating a government official, a tech-support worker or a loved one in distress. The criminals will claim you owe a fine or that your accounts are compromised, but instead of asking for gift cards or other forms of payment, they will direct you to deposit cash into a crypto ATM.

“There’s no $10,000 gift card,” Netto says. “But if the criminal can get someone to go to a crypto ATM, they can get that $10,000 [in one] day.”

Indeed, the FTC says that when people lose money in crypto ATM scams, the amount stolen is “exceptionally high.”

In his testimony supporting a similar bill last year, Netto shared a dozen accounts from victims across the country who had called AARP’s Fraud Watch Network Helpline to report crypto ATM-related fraud. The victims ranged from a man who was robbed of $1,000 via a crypto ATM after a criminal told him his son needed bail money to get out of jail, to a woman who deposited $40,000 into one of the machines at the urging of a criminal posing as a celebrity on Instagram.

Casimiro said the refund provision in her bill would give new crypto ATM customers a 90-day window to reclaim their money if they’ve been a victim of fraud. Among other conditions, they would have to report the fraud to a government or law enforcement agency within that period to receive a refund.

“This is needed especially with grandparent scams,” she says, in which criminals convince their victims that their grandchild is in dire legal trouble and urgently needs bail money.

With AARP’s backing, other states have enacted laws to curb crypto ATM-related fraud. For example, Vermont has a $1,000 daily cash transaction limit. In Minnesota, new crypto ATM customers can get refunds for fraud losses if reported within 14 days, and their daily transactions are capped at $2,000.

Netto says the more people talk about cryptocurrency—and all other types of fraud—the better.

“If you get a call that requires an urgent action, something’s wrong,” says Netto. “Take a deep breath. Step back, think through the situation ... because once you get caught up in that excitement and the panic of it all, you tend not to think logically.”

AARP’s Fraud Watch Network has a host of resources to help you stay safe. Learn more at aarp.org/fraudwatchnetwork.

—Michelle Cerulli McAdams