Scammers are using new crypto ATMs
Many cases involve criminals impersonating local police or sheriff’s officers
The following article appeared in the March 6, 2026, edition of The Charlotte Ledger, an e-newsletter with smart and original local news for Charlotte. We offer free and paid subscription plans. More info here.
Criminals are funneling money through bitcoin ATMs now located in many convenience stores. Consumer advocates want regulation.
by Michelle Crouch
The man on the phone said he was a sheriff’s deputy.
He told Charlottean Ana Jones last fall that she had missed jury duty in the county where she used to live. There were two bench warrants in her name, he said. And the matter was highly confidential.
Panicked and determined to fix her mistake, Jones, 29, stayed on the phone with the man for nearly two hours. Following his instructions, she withdrew $1,000 in cash, fed it into a cryptocurrency kiosk at a nearby gas station, and rushed to take the receipt to the Catawba County sheriff’s office, hoping to clear her name.
It wasn’t until Jones handed over the receipt and saw the confusion on the clerk’s face that the truth hit her: She had been scammed.
“The adrenaline had been pushing me for two hours,” said Jones, who lives in South End. “When I slowed down, I realized what had happened. My eyes started burning. I started to cry.”
The sheriff’s officers were sympathetic, but they told her the money was gone. Once cash is converted to crypto, they said, it’s nearly impossible to trace or recover.
A growing problem
Bitcoin ATMs, also called cryptocurrency kiosks, have popped up in gas stations, convenience stores and vape shops across the country in recent years. Resembling traditional ATMs, they are marketed as an easy way for people to buy and sell cryptocurrency.
Police say they have also become a magnet for scammers.