Illinois Senator proposes Bill to regulate national crypto money machines

Crypto -money machines, once praised as a convenience for enthusiasts, are now being operated by scammers, so that victims, many of them older people, with considerable financial losses are left behind.

In response, Illinois Senator Dick Durbin introduced the Crypto ATM -Fraud Prevention Act, which imposes new regulations to curb the rising tide of fraud in connection with these machines.

The legislation, announced On Tuesday, strict transaction limits would set to crypto money machines and require companies to offer full reimbursements to victims who report fraud within 30 days of the transaction.

“These measures are common image rails that prevent countless Americans, in particular seniors, losing thousands of dollars from their hard -earned savings to criminal scams,” said Dublin as he encouraged his colleagues on the senate floor to give the law in the law.

According to the proposed rules, new users would be prohibited from spending more than $ 2,000 or $ 10,000 within 14 days.

The bill would also be mandatory that users who try transactions are contacted more than $ 500 directly by operators to ensure that fraudsters do not manipulate them.

Durbin started his proposal by sharing the story of a new Lenox man who was scammed from $ 15,000 after a phone call from someone who occurred as a deputy.

The scammer told him that he had missed the jury obligation and could prevent arrest by paying a fine via a Bitcoin money machine.

The victim, worried about the consequences, followed the instructions and deposited the money, only to realize that it was a scam.

“There was no way to trace the transaction to the scammer and not a way to get the money back,” Dublin said. “This is just an example of a growing and alarming trend of crypto atme fraud.”

Because the world’s largest crypto widespread institutional interest wins, with 18 states, including IllinoisFor setting up Bitcoin reserves, crypto-related scam also are on the rise.

Information provided to NBC News The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has shown that the amount of money has consumers reported Losing scam with Bitcoin money machines has increased almost ten times since 2020 and above 2023 at the top $ 110 million.

“Although this scams are not all identical, they generally take place just like the one I have described,” said Durbin, explained how scammers government officials or bank representatives occur, causing urgent threats to push victims to act quickly and large amounts to be deposited in Bitcoin into Bitcoin ATMs.

FTC data has also shown how older adults are disproportionately the target, whereby consumers are older than 60 more than three times as chance of being duped compared to younger adults.

“Scammers use these machines as a way to take more money from people than we have seen in the past,” said Emma Fletcher, a senior data researcher at the FTC, last year.

Bitcoin -money machinesAlthough prohibited in some countries, are legally active in the US and have spread, with nearly 29,642 machines that are now in operation, according to the radar of the coins. facts.

This scams includes fraudulent crypto -money machines and hackers that are focused on platforms such as Bybit, where the notorious Noord -Korean Lazarus group stable $ 1.4 billion in assets Last week marked the most important exploit in the 17-year history of industry.

Published by Sebastian Sinclair