PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs has signed a bill into law that’s aimed at combating Bitcoin ATM scams.

Arizona’s Family Investigates has been following that legislation closely after reporting on a sharp rise in these scams. The FBI reported that people in Arizona lost nearly $325 million to crypto-related fraud in 2023 alone.

The bill’s language, signed into law on Monday, has changed as it’s passed through the Legislature. The new law requires Bitcoin ATM operators to give customers a receipt with the digital wallet address where the funds are sent. It also imposes transaction limits: $2,000 per day for new customers and $10,500 for existing customers.

Investigative reporter Amy Cutler took an in-depth look at the crypto scam that’s cost consumers millions. She spoke to a woman sharing her story as a warning after Peoria Police confirmed she lost nearly $28,000. It’s one of 24 recent incidents involving unregulated Bitcoin ATMs. In total, police say families lost almost a million dollars in a single year just in that city alone.

“It’s a way to circumvent the traditional banking sector, all the protocols around that,” said John Griffin, a University of Texas at Austin finance professor who studies cryptocurrencies. “Scammers are using these to steal funds and so I do think it’s an epidemic.”

It’s why AARP Arizona has worked with police, state lawmakers, and Bitcoin ATM operators to push a bill to regulate these machines.

“It’s more about the individuals who use them and people who are using them because they’re being scammed,” said Brendon Blake, the advocacy director at AARP Arizona.

Earlier this year, Arizona’s Family reported that Scottsdale police were seeing cryptocurrency ATMs become a hotbed for fraud. According to the FBI’s 2023 report on cryptocurrency fraud, Arizona residents lost roughly $127 million to virtual money fraud, with people over 60 targeted the most.

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