With no regulation on “crypto ATM” machines, New Hampshire has become a magnet for scammers who target the elderly for an average $40,000 loss, according to law enforcement leaders, a bipartisan team of senators and advocacy groups backing reform.
A legislative package that cleared the state Senate on Thursday would impose deposit limits, a mandatory refund policy, transparent paper receipts and prominent, pre-transaction warnings to consumers.
Ray Lamy, fraud and financial crimes investigator with the Manchester Police Department, said from 2021-25 his unit investigated 66 fraud cases with an average $17,000 loss from one of the 22 crypto ATMs in the city.
The average victim was 73 years old, he said.
One 80-year-old woman trying to close out an online retail account was persuaded to bring $17,000 in cash to a machine only to learn after speaking to a friend that she had effectively been robbed, he said.
In the Senate, Majority Leader Regina Birdsell, R-Hampstead, shared horror stories that were even worse. “In Derry, a town in my district, $1 million scammed from a 63-year-old; in Epping another $1 million loss; $17,000 in Littleton; $100,000 in Litchfield,” Birdsell said. “This is getting to be a scourge on our elderly, I’m sorry. They have decided New Hampshire is a great place to do this.”
AARP’s New Hampshire chapter said its survey found 85% of those scammed by the machines here were 60 years or older.
Cryptocurrency kiosks — also known as “crypto ATMs,” “bitcoin ATMs,” “BTMs,” or “virtual currency kiosks” — are found in high-traffic areas such as supermarkets, convenience stores, gas stations, bars and restaurants.
Over the past decade, the machines’ numbers have grown nationwide from 100 to more than 30,000.
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