A Maine man is sharing his story after losing roughly $27,000 in a romance scam that relied heavily on cryptocurrency transactions, hoping others can avoid becoming victims themselves.”You may think, oh, this is this is the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me,” said Peter Carrier. “It isn’t. It’s the worst thing that’s ever going to happen to you. Just get out.”Carrier, a man in his early 70s, told 8 Investigates he believed he had found love after meeting a woman on Facebook.The scammers posed as a single mother living in Florida. Carrier was blindsided, in part, because he was the one who initiated the conversation. Carrier said he was aware of the risks associated with meeting people online and thought he had done his due diligence. “I kind of checked into different parts of our relationship, you know, just to try and verify, is this real?” he said.The two began texting every day. At first, the woman asked Carrier to send her a gift card so she could buy her 9-year-old daughter a new video game. He agreed, but the requests soon escalated.”She always said, oh, you know, we could do well together,” Carrier said.Before long, she started asking him to help her pay for repairs on her deceased father’s house. She told him they could sell the renovated home for a profit and use the proceeds to travel together.”We can go here, we can go there, you know, it’ll be great,” Carrier recalled her saying. “I got sucked right in.”Most of the money was sent through a bitcoin kiosk.“She said, you know, this is the best way to get money to me fast,” Carrier said.He searched online and found a kiosk about 30 minutes away, located at the back of a laundromat in Lisbon Falls.Maine consumer protectionsBitcoin kiosks allow users to deposit cash, convert it into cryptocurrency, and either keep the bitcoin or transfer it to another person’s digital wallet.Linda Conti, superintendent of the Maine Bureau of Consumer Credit Protection, said cryptocurrency transactions allow scammers to receive money completely anonymously. “You can trace the transaction, but you never know who has the wallet,” Conti said. Conti feels strongly that most transactions are the product of scams. “Do you pay the babysitter with bitcoin? When you go out to dinner, do you pay the restaurant with bitcoin? Who do you pay?” Conti asked. “People have said, oh yeah, people use it for that, but I’ve never, ever in my life met anyone who takes bitcoin as payment for anything.”The kiosk in Lisbon, which is owned by CoinFlip, is no longer in service. Conti said most, if not all, Bitcoin kiosks in Maine are now out of operation. Maine recently enacted regulations aimed at curbing losses tied to cryptocurrency ATM scams. The rules cap fees at 3% of a transaction, limit transactions to $1,000 per day and hold companies liable for losses.The Maine Bureau of Consumer Credit Protection also reached a settlement with one operator, Bitcoin Depot, securing $1.9 million for distribution to scam victims.”Even though they weren’t doing the scamming, they were making 40% off of the scam,” Conti said. “A significant percentage of the large transactions were being done by people 70 years and older, so that’s always a flag to us.” Millions of dollars lost In addition to romance scams, fraudsters also use impersonation scams and false investment schemes to convince people to fork over thousands of dollars worth of cryptocurrency. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation Internet Crime Report, Americans lost at least $389 million in scams involving cryptocurrency ATMs in 2025. The total losses increase with each age group, with people 60 years and older experiencing the most losses. Regulatory gapsRegulators and lawmakers continue to grapple with how to oversee the rapidly evolving cryptocurrency industry. Most of the protections touted by Conti don’t apply to cryptocurrency apps, leaving Mainers at risk of losing money through bitcoin transactions on their phones. Meanwhile, federal regulators have given some cryptocurrency companies conditional trust charters, allowing those bitcoin platforms to operate like banks. Conti says since banks are immune from certain state regulations, this could eventually allow some cryptocurrency companies to skirt the consumer protections currently in place in Maine.8 Investigates contacted all four members of Maine’s congressional delegation for comment to see if they’re working on any related legislation. A spokesperson for Rep. Chellie Pingree (D) shared a statement via email. “While there is currently no House legislation on this specific issue, I strongly support efforts like the Senate Banking Democrats’ bill, introduced this week, to fully and automatically fund the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau so it can keep doing its job: protecting consumers, cracking down on scammers, and holding bad actors accountable.”A spokesperson for Sen. Susan Collins (R) said she has long prioritized consumer protections for seniors, including through a new bill known as the Senior Security Act, but didn’t mention any initiatives with a specific focus on cryptocurrency. Rep. Jared Golden (D) and Sen. Angus King (I) did not respond to requests for comment. Moving forwardWhen asked for comment, a spokesperson for CoinFlip wrote, “We were saddened to hear about this experience, and we never want to profit from honest people being scammed. CoinFlip refunds transaction fees to victims in instances of fraud, and our team is ready to work with the customer on that process.”Carrier has not recovered any of the money he lost. He was so embarrassed that he deleted all the text messages and discarded receipts connected to the transactions. He hopes others won’t make the same mistake. “It is embarrassing, but you really shouldn’t feel embarrassed because these people are slick,” Carrier said. “Try and look past that and get help.”