MARATHON COUNTY, Wis. (WSAW) – People in Marathon County, mostly seniors, are losing up to $180,000 to scammers who convince them to deposit cash into cryptocurrency machines and send digital money to scammers.
The scams start with phone calls where scammers tell victims they have a warrant out for their arrest or missed jury duty and owe money. Scammers then direct people to download an app or go to a Bitcoin ATM to send them money.
How the scam works
Bitcoin ATMs or cryptocurrency machines are used to purchase and send digital money. Marathon County Sheriff Chad Billeb calls them “reverse ATMs.”
“So instead of taking money out, you’re putting money in,” Billeb said.
He added his office knows legitimate transactions happen on these machines, like sports betting and gaming-related purchases. However, scammers using these machines to steal money is the number one scam seniors in Marathon County are facing.
Scammers will call victims, posing as law enforcement, utility companies and even grandchildren. They’ll say people missed a fine or owe them money and they need to send it through a cryptocurrency ATM.
“The money is going to someone else, and I think that’s where this gets confused, is cryptocurrency and Bitcoin are not the problem here. They’re not the issue. The issue is the device that’s being used in order to complete the transaction,” Billeb said.
Once a victim sends their money digitally, it’s hard for law enforcement to take action because scammers are often overseas. Billeb said their office often doesn’t have the resources to follow up on these leads.
If you receive a call that you think is a scam, the office advises you to question the scammer. You can also call and consult your local law enforcement agency, or just hang up.
Billeb said there are even more cases than what’s reported to them, because people are embarrassed when they lose money like this.
Law enforcement working on prevention
Local sheriff departments have been meeting with lawmakers to impose daily limits on the machines.
“So that if someone can’t just walk up to a machine and put $20,000 into it. Set a limit, $500, $1,000 a day. So that if somebody wants to use it for a legitimate purpose, they can. But if they’re being scammed, they’re not putting their life savings into a couple of machines in a matter of days, which is what we see happening and hear of happening across Wisconsin,” Billeb said.
Wisconsin’s Department of Financial Institutions set a daily limit of $2,000 on cryptocurrency ATMs at the end of July. A spokesperson said any violation of this limit, or scammers using these machines to steal money, violates Wisconsin’s money transmission law through the DFI.
This can lead to machine operators having their licenses revoked, which are issued by the DFI. People can submit complaints about machines to the department’s website after choosing to file a money transmitter complaint.
Scams in Wood County
Since those $2,000 daily limits were implemented, the Wood County Sheriff’s Department has received zero complaints of scams involving digital currency. But this wasn’t always the case. In the last two years, the Wood County Sheriff’s Department says people have reported losing $2,000 to $40,000.
Now, when they do get reports, their office is getting search warrants and seizing money from cryptocurrency ATM’s. They then hold the cash as evidence until a judge makes a ruling. Marathon County Sheriff’s Office is not doing this.
Investigator Sergeant Dan Berres from the Wood County Sheriff’s Department says in their county of 80,000 people, people have lost a total of $500,000 to $1 million from these scams.
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