Bitcoin ATM scams on the rise in North Dakota, AARP calls for regulation
Bitcoin ATM scams are on the rise, with North Dakota witnessing an uptick in crime across several counties. According to reports, scammers have been calling residents, urging them to pay certain legal fees in Bitcoin and some other gift cards for missing jury duties.
According to several reports coming out of Stanley County, the Sheriff’s Office told the United Judicial System (UJS) that it had received more than 30 reports regarding suspicious phone calls over the last few days. Most of the callers have been telling Stanley County residents that there is a $2,000 warrant for their arrest, instructing them to visit local convenience stores to send money using digital assets like Bitcoin.
According to the Chief Deputy of the Stanley County Sheriff’s Office, Greg Swanson, these criminals have various methods of carrying out their activities, using scare tactics as the major example. “They would keep them on the phone while they drove to the bitcoin machine and tell them how to go about this action,” Swanson said. He also added that the scammers have been trying to use the Sheriff’s Office phone numbers to appear legitimate.
Some scammers have also been using the Sheriff’s Office’s logo when sending scam emails in an apparent effort to appear legitimate and convincing, the Chief Deputy mentioned. The UJS have also alerted the general public to the growing menace of calls for missing jury duties for subsequent payments, telling them that they would never call anyone regarding jury duty.
“We would never call someone, we certainly would never ever demand money over the phone, we wouldn’t accept or look for things such as bitcoins, cryptocurrencies, those are really big red flags,” Greg Sattizahn, the state court administrator for UJS said.
The scam has been netting the criminals some heavy amounts, with one Stanley County resident noting that he lost $4,000 to the scammers. While the Sheriff’s office continues to investigate, it has yet to find any suspects.
According to Jesse Schmidt from the Better Business Bureau South Dakota Region, criminals usually swing for a home run when carrying out their scams. He mentioned the way they carry out their crimes, noting that they prey on people’s ignorance to make money.
“These scams are dialing for dollars, they are placing hundreds if not thousands of phone calls a day, all they need is for a few people to send them hundreds or thousands of dollars at a time then they’re going to move on to the next caller,” said Schmidt.
Meanwhile, AARP has called for regulation of cryptocurrency kiosks amid growing concern over the increase in fraud. The group is calling on North Dakota Governor Kelly Armstrong to sign a bill that will regulate the kiosks’ activities. According to an FBI report in 2023, Americans lost about $5.6 billion to cryptocurrency scams, with North Dakota losing $6 million.
House Bill 1447 would allow the state to protect consumers by licensing cryptocurrency kiosk operators, displaying fraud warnings on the machines, and mandating the operators to enable compulsory printed receipts detailing the full transaction information. “These machines look like ATMs, and so people are inserting their money, thinking it’s secure,” said Janelle Moos, advocacy director for AARP North Dakota.
Janelle Moos added that once users send digital assets into a scammer’s wallet, the money is gone, noting that there is no way to track it. She noted that the criminals have realized this and are using this tool to scam residents in the state out of their hard-earned cash. AARP also mentioned that the bill would offer important safeguards and help protect the older population and other vulnerable consumers in North Dakota from falling victim to crypto scams.
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Ethereum in Free Fall: How Long Will the Spiral Last?
For several months, Ethereum seems to have found itself in a downward spiral, with obvious signs of discouragement among its holders. The continuous devaluation of the price of ETH raises questions: is this relentless decline a reflection of a temporary crisis or a dark tunnel that seems never-ending? A reality of “loss” that appears today to be unavoidable, but could it hide, behind its darkness, a light, a reward at the end of the journey?
Ethereum is going through a period of turbulence , marked by four consecutive months of losses, as noted by some observers, including Jeet Shah:
It’s painful to be an Ethereum holder. But in the end, we will be rewarded!
This painful reality is reflected on the CryptoQuant platform , which attributes this long series of declines to a declining network activity. The number of active addresses continues to decrease, and transaction fees have dropped to historically low levels, exacerbating ETH inflation.
These combined factors have not only affected market perception but have also led to an inflation of the altcoin, destroying the balance between supply and demand.
The situation worsens with the reduction in the ETH “burn” rate, an initiative aimed at removing some of the circulating currency. However, after the Dencun update, low transaction fees have led to a decrease in burning, thus reintroducing inflation into the Ethereum ecosystem.
This seems to mark a turning point: while Ethereum seeks to stabilize its value, these inflationary pressures continue to play a key role in its decline.
The price of Ethereum , currently trading around $1,790, has lost more than 60% of its value compared to its all-time high. This prolonged drop could lead to a broader reflection on the resilience of the Ethereum ecosystem.
Despite the difficulties, analysts, like EgyHash from CryptoQuant, believe that a rebound in network activity, particularly with an increase in active addresses and a rise in transaction fees, could trigger a virtuous cycle.
This scenario, however, remains uncertain and depends on a restoration of market confidence.
Thus, although the coming months promise to be challenging, some firmly believe that the future of Ethereum could improve. It’s not a matter of “if”, but of “when”.
Investors hope for a turnaround where rewards will finally materialize after this dark tunnel.
As the shadow of inflation continues to loom over Ethereum, the launch of Pectra on May 7, 2025 could mark a crucial turning point for the ecosystem. This new event could bring a breath of fresh air, reinvigorating the ETH cryptocurrency. A wind of optimism may finally blow after this tunnel crossing.