Australia Declares War On Crypto ATMs As Crime Explodes

Australia is stepping up action against cryptocurrency ATMs after a sharp rise in scams and other illicit uses, according to AUSTRAC and law enforcement ￰0￱ that let people turn cash into crypto have grown fast, and regulators say the surge has put older and vulnerable users at particular ￰1￱ Tighten Rules Authorities have introduced a set of new controls aimed at cutting ￰2￱ on reports, a cash cap of AUD5,000 per transaction is now in place for many ￰3￱ are being told to strengthen identity checks, add clear scam warnings on the machines, and file more reports when activity looks ￰4￱ has set up a task force to inspect providers and press compliance where it is ￰5￱ Hit Older People Hard The harm is already ￰6￱ have disclosed that around 150,000 transactions flow through crypto ATMs each year, moving roughly AUD275 million in ￰7￱ 99% of those are cash ￰8￱ Tasmania, police say 15 people lost a combined AUD2.5 million in recent schemes and one person lost about AUD750,000; the average age of victims in that case was about ￰9￱ of the cases involve callers who pressure or trick victims into sending cash to a machine and then transferring the funds ￰10￱ And Gaps Police and AUSTRAC have been refusing renewals for noncompliant operators and running targeted investigations.

Still, enforcement faces ￰11￱ number of machines has ballooned — estimates put them at roughly 1,600–1,800+ across the country — and some providers were found not to be doing proper identity checks or transaction ￰12￱ makes it hard to police every kiosk, and it leaves room for criminals to move ￰13￱ For Victims And The System Once cash is converted and moved on-chain, it is often hard to ￰14￱ can be mixed, sent through multiple wallets or routed ￰15￱ makes recovery difficult, especially when recipient addresses tie into overseas services that do not cooperate with Australian ￰16￱ warn that while ATMs have legitimate uses — for people who prefer cash or lack access to online services — the machines’ anonymity and instant transfers create a high abuse ￰17￱ image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView