DISCOVERED. IT’S COSTING PEOPLE ALL ACROSS MASSACHUSETTS MILLIONS. AND I GET A PHONE CALL FROM TD BANK, WHICH HAS BEEN MY BANK FOR YEARS. 85 YEAR OLD JANICE PELTZ DIDN’T REALIZE IT AT THE TIME, BUT IT WASN’T TD BANK ON THE OTHER END OF THE LINE. SOMEHOW I WAS PERSUADED TO GO TO THE BANK AND GET MONEY OUT OF MY LINE OF CREDIT, AND HE SAID, I DON’T WANT YOU TO TELL ANYBODY. JANICE DROVE TO THE BANK, WITHDRAWING $18,000 IN CASH. I FELT ALMOST AS IF I HAD BEEN HYPNOTIZED. WHY DID YOU THINK YOU NEEDED TO GET ALL THAT CASH? THAT’S WHAT HE TOLD ME TO GET. AND YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO DO WHAT? WITH IT? PUT IT INTO A BITCOIN MACHINE. THE SCAMMER DIRECTED JANICE TO THIS STORE. AND THIS BITCOIN ATM. SHE SAYS SHE SPENT HOURS HERE DEPOSITING THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS INTO THE MACHINE. IT WASN’T ALL $100 BILLS. IT WAS $10 BILLS. IT WAS A MIXTURE OF MONEY. AND IT TOOK WHAT SEEMED LIKE FOREVER. AND JUST LIKE THAT, THIS MASSACHUSETTS WOMAN’S MONEY WAS GONE. THIS IS CHASE BANK. LET ME TALK TO THEM. OKAY. STOP PUTTING MONEY IN THEIR BITCOIN SCAMS ARE HAPPENING ALL OVER THE COUNTRY. A POLICE OFFICER IN TEXAS INTERVENED AS THIS 85 YEAR WOMAN WAS DEPOSITING THOUSANDS INTO A BITCOIN ATM. WHO IS THIS? THIS IS STEVE SECURITY TEAM. SO, CHRISTINE, YOU’RE NOT THE FBI ESTIMATES AMERICANS LOST NEARLY $250 MILLION IN BITCOIN ATM SCAMS IN 2024. A LOT OF THE INVESTIGATIONS WE’VE BEEN DOING HERE POINT TO INDIA BASED ON SUBPOENAS. JIM KEARNEY IS AN INVESTIGATOR WITH THE ESSEX COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE. HE SAYS THERE HAVE BEEN AT LEAST $77 MILLION IN REPORTED LOSSES IN MASSACHUSETTS THIS YEAR, AND AT LEAST 11 MILLION IN ESSEX COUNTY ALONE. HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TO ACTUALLY FIGURE OUT WHO IS BEHIND THE SCAM? IT’S EXTRAORDINARILY DIFFICULT. MASSACHUSETTS LAWMAKERS ARE TRYING TO PREVENT BITCOIN ATM SCAMS WITH A BILL THAT WOULD IMPLEMENT DAILY TRANSACTION LIMITS, REFUNDS FOR FRAUD VICTIMS AND FEE CAPS, AMONG OTHER THINGS. AT THE VERY MOMENT SOMEONE IS BEING SCAMMED, THE VERY MOMENT A POLICE DETECTIVE TESTIFYING AT THE STATE HEARING LAST MONTH SAYS IT DOESN’T GO FAR ENOUGH. THE ONLY THING THAT WILL WORK, I LIKE TO CALL A PAUSE BUTTON. THERE NEEDS TO BE A TRANSACTIONAL PAUSE ON ALL TRANSACTION. IF YOU WANT TO PUT A MINIMUM ON IT. ANYTHING OVER $100 NEEDS TO BE A PAUSE BUTTON FOR 48 HOURS. THERE ARE HUNDREDS OF BITCOIN ATMS IN MASSACHUSETTS. PEOPLE CAN PUT MONEY IN TO BUY CRYPTOCURRENCY AND ARE CHARGED TRANSACTION FEES AS HIGH AS 35%. WE’VE HEARD DATA FROM OTHER STATES THAT ARE LOOKING AT 94 TO 98% OF TRANSACTIONS THROUGH THESE MACHINES ARE FRAUDULENT, BITCOIN DEPOT OPERATES MANY OF THE BITCOIN ATMS IN MASSACHUSETTS. THE COMPANY DECLINED AN INTERVIEW WITH US, BUT TESTIFIED AGAINST MOST OF THE PROVISIONS OF THE BILL. WE HAVE SERIOUS CONCERNS WITH CERTAIN PROVISIONS THAT REPRESENT AN EFFECTIVE BAN ON A NEW INDUSTRY DUE TO THE OVERLY AGGRESSIVE NATURE OF THE LIMITS ON DAILY TRANSACTIONS AND UNREASONABLY LOW FEE CAP PROVISIONS. FOR A LONG TIME, I COULDN’T STOP BLAMING MYSELF. LOWELL POLICE ARE INVESTIGATING JANIS’S CASE, AND SHE’S STILL HOPING TO GET HER MONEY BACK. DO YOU THINK THESE MACHINES SHOULD BE BANNED? OH, ABSOLUTELY. THERE’S NO POSITIVE REASON FOR ANYBODY TO USE THEM. NOTHING. POLICE SAY MANY OF THESE SCAM CASES GO UNREPORTED BECAUSE VICTIMS ARE TOO EMBARRASSED TO ADMIT THEY FELL FOR IT. THEY SAY IF YOU GET A STRANGE PHONE CALL LIKE JANICE DID, BE SKEPTICAL. DON’T RUSH OR ACT QUICKLY AND BEWARE OF ANY REQUEST