As a law enforcement official cited examples of seniors being scammed out of tens of thousands of dollars, a Florida House panel Tuesday began moving forward with a proposal that would impose regulations on “crypto ATMs.”
The problem comes from scams in which seniors are convinced to withdraw money from banks or credit unions and put the money into ATMs, which are more technically called virtual currency kiosks. The money is then converted into virtual currency and cannot be tracked.
“Once converted to crypto, it disappears,” said Rep. Michael Owen, an Apollo Beach Republican sponsoring the proposal (HB 505), which was unanimously approved by the House Insurance and Banking Subcommittee.
The vote came after Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Jeffery Merry described residents of the sprawling Sun City Center senior community as being victims of scams using crypto ATMs.
As an example, he said a 73-year-old woman withdrew $77,000 from her bank account after becoming convinced through a series of phone calls that her account had been hacked and she needed to protect the money. She followed the instructions to place it in a crypto ATM at a Walgreens store and lost the money.
“It was his savings,” said Merry, a community resource deputy at Sun City Center. “This was what she was supposed to live on for the next two years.”
The bill, which is also sponsored by Rep. Dan Daley, D-Coral Springs, is filed for the legislative session that begins Jan. 13. Sen. Darryl Rouson, D-St. St. Petersburg, filed an identical version in the Senate (SB 198).
The proposal would include a series of measures. Including requiring kiosk owners to post warnings on screens that would say: “Consumer fraud often begins with contact from a stranger. If you have been directed to this machine by someone claiming to be a government agent, bill collector, law enforcement officer, or anyone you do not know personally, stop this transaction immediately and contact your financial advisor or local law enforcement.”
Additionally, the bill would prevent kiosk owners from allowing new customers to make more than $2,000 in transactions per day and existing customers to make more than $10,500 in transactions per day.
Additionally, it would require providing electronic receipts for transactions and include reimbursement requirements.
Merry said crypto scams have replaced scams of the past that used things like Western Union and gift cards. The bill received support Tuesday from senior policy advocacy group AARP, the Florida Bankers Association and the Florida Credit Union Association.
Ethan McClelland, director of government relations at Bitcoin Depot, a major kiosk operator, called the bill a “good compromise.”
“As an industry, no one wants to profit from fraudulent activity,” he said.
