Overview
- The CFTC issued a consumer advisory on Aug. 26, 2026, saying cash-to-crypto kiosks convert deposits into crypto that usually cannot be reversed and are being used by scammers to collect payment.
- FBI data cited by agencies show roughly 13,460 kiosk-related complaints in 2025 with about $388 million in reported losses and people over 50 reporting the majority of harm.
- Scammers typically impersonate government agencies, banks, tech support or romantic contacts, coach victims in real time to deposit cash at a kiosk, and provide wallet addresses or QR codes that send funds instantly to unhosted wallets.
- States have split responses: some have banned kiosks while others, including Arizona, created refund-and-regulation rules that produced limited recoveries, and FinCEN guidance is prompting banks to scrutinize operators’ accounts.
- Authorities tell victims to preserve receipts, wallet addresses, QR codes and transaction hashes and to report fraud immediately to the CFTC complaint portal, the FBI IC3 site and local police, though recoveries remain unlikely.