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I write in response to the May 14 column “Maine Lawmakers have wrong approach to stopping crypto scams.”
Chances are, even if you have never used a cryptocurrency ATM, you have walked by one in your neighborhood grocery store, liquor store, or convenience store. They are designed to look like a regular ATM. However, these machines are not FDIC insured or regulated like bank industry ATMs. Therefore, the cryptocurrency ATMs can provide an easy conduit for criminal use.
Though these machines can be used for legitimate commerce, the FBI, AARP’s victim helpline and law enforcement across our nation have seen a large increase in reports of fraud perpetrated through these machines. AARP is on high alert, as these scams often target older Americans.
Nationwide, fraud losses through crypto ATMs jumped nearly tenfold from 2020 to 2023 and surpassed $65 million in the first half of last year, Federal Trade Commission data shows. In the first six months of 2024, people aged 60-plus were more than three times as likely as younger adults to report a loss using one of the machines, according to the FTC.
AARP Maine is educating its community everyday through the AARP Fraud Watch Network about these types of scams. However, we cannot educate our way out of this problem. The criminals are very skilled at getting their victims to think emotionally about solving the urgent problem that the criminal has concocted.
AARP Fraud Watch Network and the AARP fraud helpline, 877-908-3360, are free resources for all, regardless of age and whether or not you are an AARP member. If you’ve been targeted by scams or fraud, you are not alone.
With the dollar amounts being taken via these machines from our parents, friends and loved ones, we need to do something now. There is no time to wait, because the crisis is already here.
Jane Margesson
AARP Maine senior communications director
Portland
