Bitcoin ATM Scams: How They Work and How to Trace the Money
Americans reported losing $389 million to scams that used crypto ATMs in 2025, the FBI says. How the scams work, what your receipt tells you, how to trace the payment and where to report it.
A Bitcoin ATM turns cash into Bitcoin and sends it to whatever address the customer scans. That makes it a favorite tool of scammers: they talk a victim into feeding cash into a machine and scanning a QR code they supplied, and the coins land in their wallet within minutes. Nobody can reverse that payment. What the victim can do is report it fast, with the right details, and trace where the coins went next.
How big the problem is
In 2025 the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center received 13,460 complaints that involved cryptocurrency kiosks, with reported losses of $389 million, according to a May 2026 FBI alert. That is 23% more complaints and 58% more money than in 2024. More than half of the complaints came from people over 50, who reported losing over $302 million. The FBI notes that some of these complaints also involve other ways of paying, so not every dollar went through a machine.
The Federal Trade Commission saw the same trend earlier. People reported losing more than $110 million at Bitcoin ATMs in 2023, nearly ten times the 2020 figure, and the median loss in the first half of 2024 was $10,000, the FTC said in September 2024. People over 60 were more than three times as likely as younger adults to report a loss.
How the scams work
The machine is usually the last step. The first contact is a call, a text, a pop-up or a dating profile.
| Scam | What the caller says | Why they want an ATM |
|---|---|---|
| Government impersonation | You owe tax, a fine or a warrant fee, or your bank account is linked to a crime | The payment is final and arrives within minutes |
| Business or tech support impersonation | Your account was hacked; move your money to a "safe" account | The victim scans the scammer's QR code believing it is their own account |
| Romance and investment | A new friend shows how to invest in crypto | The victim is told to deposit again and again as the fake investment grows |
In each case the scammer gives step-by-step instructions: how to withdraw cash, where the nearest kiosk is, and which QR code to scan. The FBI is plain about it: no real police officer or government official will call to demand payment through a crypto kiosk.
What happened to Bitcoin Depot
The original version of this post focused on Bitcoin Depot, then the largest Bitcoin ATM network in North America. On 17 May 2026 the company and its affiliates filed for Chapter 11 in the Southern District of Texas, with all of its roughly 9,700 kiosks already offline. The company plans to wind down and sell its assets. Its chief executive blamed new transaction limits and outright bans on crypto ATMs in some places. At the time, the company faced lawsuits from the attorneys general of Massachusetts and Iowa over scam payments through its machines, ICIJ reported. Refund requests to Bitcoin Depot now go through the bankruptcy case.
Other networks still run, and so do the scams. Earlier cases show how prosecutors treat a machine owner who looks away. In March 2023, a grand jury in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, indicted the owners of Bitcoin of America on charges that included money laundering and running kiosks without a license. Prosecutors said the company kept its fee, about 20% of each transfer, even after being told the money came from fraud victims. The Secret Service seized 52 of its machines in Northeast Ohio.
What your receipt tells you
Keep the paper or emailed receipt. It holds most of what investigators need.
| On the receipt | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Transaction ID (TXID) | Points to the exact Bitcoin payment on the public ledger |
| Destination address | The scammer's address, where the trace starts |
| Amount, time and kiosk location | Ties the payment to you and to the machine |
| ATM company name | The company that sent the coins and keeps its own record of the sale |
One detail surprises people. On the blockchain, the coins were not sent by you. They were sent from the ATM company's own wallet, which pays many customers. Tracing backwards from the payment leads only to that company. The useful direction is forwards, from the scammer's address.
How to trace the payment
Every Bitcoin payment is public, so the coins can be followed from the scammer's address to the next one, and the next, until they reach somewhere with a name. The goal is an exchange deposit address. An exchange knows whose account that is, and the police or a court can ask it to freeze the money.
The Bitquery MCP server lets you do this by asking an AI client, such as Claude or ChatGPT, in plain English. Connect it with one URL, https://mcp.bitquery.io. Tracing and labels sit on the AI Investigation MCP plan, at $149 per month on our pricing page. The setup guide covers each client. Prompts to start with:
Show me Bitcoin transaction <TXID from your receipt>. Which output
paid the address on my receipt, and which was change?
Where did that address send the coins? Follow the largest
payments three steps and label every address.
Is any address on that path an exchange deposit address, a mixer
or a known scam?
| Tool the AI uses | What it does |
|---|---|
btc_tx_flow | Lists the inputs and outputs of one transaction and marks change |
btc_address_flow_summary | Shows who an address paid and who paid it |
btc_flow_edges | Lists every address one step away, with amounts |
labels_for_addresses | Checks addresses against exchange, mixer, scam and sanctions labels |
No AI client? MoneyFlow Lite follows funds from an address in your browser, on 17 chains including Bitcoin. It draws on your Bitquery API quota; try it on the 7-day trial.
Many traces end at an address with no name, after the coins pass through fresh wallets or a mixer. Even then, the addresses and transactions you found are useful evidence for a police report. Our Bitcoin tracing guide walks through a full example.
Where to report it
- Call the ATM company at once. Use the number printed on the machine or the receipt. It cannot reverse the payment, but it may be able to flag the scammer's address so other customers cannot pay it, and it keeps records the police will ask for.
- File with the FBI at ic3.gov and with your local police. The FBI asks for the TXID, the wallet address, the kiosk location, any phone numbers, emails or names the scammer used, and a description of what happened.
- Tell the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov.
- Tell your bank if the cash came from your account, so it can watch for further withdrawals.
Watch for the second scam
After a loss, victims are often contacted by people who promise to recover the money for a fee. The FBI has warned about fake law firms doing exactly this. Law enforcement does not charge victims a fee to investigate. Our guide to stolen Bitcoin covers what recovery really involves and the cases where coins came back.
Bitquery also runs a crypto investigation service. The first assessment is free; after it, we send a proposal with the charges for a full investigation. No one can guarantee recovery, and we do not.
Trace the money by asking an AI
Connect the Bitquery MCP server to Claude, Cursor or ChatGPT and ask in plain English where funds from an address went. The agent follows each hop, names the exchanges and mixers on the path, and returns the transactions behind every step.
Frequently asked questions
Can a Bitcoin ATM payment be reversed?
No. Once the machine sends the coins, the payment is final. Recovery depends on the coins reaching a service that can freeze them, such as a regulated exchange, before the scammer moves them on.
Will the government ever ask me to pay at a Bitcoin ATM?
No. The FBI says no real law enforcement or government official will call to demand payment through a cryptocurrency kiosk.
What should I keep after a Bitcoin ATM scam?
The receipt, with its transaction ID and destination address, plus the kiosk location, the time, and every phone number, email, name or message the scammer used.
Can I trace a Bitcoin ATM payment myself?
Yes. The payment is on the public ledger. Start from the destination address on your receipt and follow it forwards; tools like the Bitquery MCP server walk each step and check addresses against known exchange and scam labels.
Related reading
- Stolen Bitcoin: how to trace it and when you can get it back
- How to trace Bitcoin transactions and addresses
- Crypto money laundering: how it works and how it is traced
First published in July 2024 by Edgar N. Rewritten on 15 October 2026: Bitcoin Depot has since filed for bankruptcy and shut its kiosks, so the post now covers Bitcoin ATM scams in general, with figures from the FBI and the FTC. The example address and the Coinpath and explorer walkthrough were removed, and AI tools helped draft the text. Bitquery sells the MCP server and the investigation service named above. This guide is for information only and is not legal advice.
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