Scammers are increasingly exploiting Arizona's approximately 600 crypto ATMs to defraud consumers, particularly older adults, prompting Attorney General Kris Mayes to issue an urgent warning and launch new tools to help victims recover funds.
"My message to Arizonans is this: be careful around the physical cryptocurrency ATMs we're seeing pop up around the state,” Mayes said in a statement.
The scams typically follow a familiar pattern: victims receive urgent calls from impostors claiming to be law enforcement, utility companies, or loved ones in distress, and are then pressured to withdraw cash and deposit it into crypto ATMs.
"Crypto ATMs aren't just risky because people don't understand crypto; the machines themselves are built in a way that scammers can easily abuse," cybercrime consultant David Sehyeon Baek told Decrypt.
“Unlike exchanges or wallets, he explained, there's usually no account, no fraud desk, and no cooling-off period, so once the money is sent, it's effectively gone,” Baek added.
The legislation requires crypto ATM operators to display multilingual fraud warnings, provide 24/7 live customer support, and cap daily transactions at $2,000 for new customers and $10,500 for existing users.
People don’t change behavior quickly, and “scammers are experts in psychology and human behavior,” Baek said, adding that “stronger safety measures and a bit more friction” at crypto ATMs could reduce fraud without seriously hurting user experience.
Mayes pointed out that no legitimate company or government will ever request crypto ATM deposits, urging consumers to independently verify any urgent payment requests and consult trusted advisors before making large financial transactions.
