Topic
What is a bitcoin ATM?
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- Quick fact 1
Crypto kiosks, also called bitcoin ATMs, exchange cash for crypto and crypto for cash.
Source: FinCEN notice on crypto kiosk scam payments (Aug 4, 2025)
- Quick fact 2
In 2024, the FBI’s IC3 received more than 10,956 complaints about crypto kiosks, with about $246.7 million in reported losses.
Source: FinCEN notice on crypto kiosk scam payments (Aug 4, 2025)
- Quick fact 3
Only scammers demand payment in crypto.
The short lesson
A bitcoin ATM, also called a crypto kiosk, is a machine in a store or gas station. You feed it cash, scan a wallet address as a QR code, and it sends crypto to that address. Some also buy crypto back for cash. Fees are often high.
Scammers love these machines. The pattern is almost always the same:
- A call, text or pop-up from someone posing as your bank, the government, tech support or a loved one in trouble.
- Urgency and fear: your account is hacked, there is a warrant, your money must be “protected.”
- Instructions to withdraw cash and feed it into a crypto ATM, scanning a QR code they send you.
- Staying on the phone the whole time so you cannot check with anyone.
The rule that stops it: no real bank, agency or company will ever tell you to put cash into a crypto ATM. If someone does, hang up and call someone you trust.
Once crypto is sent, it is very hard to get back. In the US, report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and ic3.gov.
Related terms
Go deeper in Lesson 9: What hurry and secrets look like
Common questions
Are bitcoin ATMs legal?
Many operate legally as registered money services businesses. Legal does not mean safe for every use.
Would the police or the IRS ask me to pay at a crypto ATM?
No. That is always a scam.
Can a crypto ATM payment be reversed?
Usually not. Report it right away anyway.
Why are the fees so high?
Operators set their own fees and spreads. Check the total before you insert cash.