What to do if you deposited cash in a Bitcoin ATM for a scammer
Someone called. Maybe it was your bank’s “fraud department,” a sheriff’s deputy, or a tech-support agent saying your computer was hacked. They stayed on the line and walked you to a Bitcoin machine at a gas station. You scanned a QR code, fed in the cash, and watched it disappear. Now the call has ended and the quiet feels awful.
First thing: this is one of the most common scams right now, and falling for it does not make you careless. The FBI logged more than $333 million in losses to Bitcoin ATM scams in 2025 alone, with a median hit around $8,000. Adults over 60 get targeted hardest. You are not the only person this happened to today.
Call the kiosk operator right now
The machine you used belongs to a company, and its name and phone number are usually printed on the kiosk itself or on your printed receipt. Call them and say the word fraud. A small number of operators can freeze or reverse a transaction if you reach them fast enough, before the crypto clears out of the holding wallet. The window is short and most of the time the answer is no, but it costs you a phone call and it is the only step where speed can still change the outcome.
Then call your bank, especially if you withdrew the cash
Many victims pull the cash from a checking account or savings right before feeding the machine. Tell your bank what happened. They can watch for follow-up withdrawal attempts, flag the account, and in some cases reverse a same-day transfer. If the scammer had you move money between your own accounts first, that pattern matters to the fraud team, so describe the whole sequence.
Write down everything before the details blur
Trauma scrambles memory, and the specifics fade within a day. Write down the kiosk location and brand, the date and time, the dollar amount, the receipt with its transaction hash, the phone number that called you, and the wallet address from the QR code if that screen is still up. The wallet address is the one thread an investigator can pull on later, so it is the item to protect above all. Our guide to preserving evidence in the first 24 hours covers what to keep and how.
Report it where the pattern gets built
File with IC3.gov and at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Neither one calls you back about a single loss, and it helps to know that going in. What they do is connect reports. When the same kiosk, phone number, or wallet shows up across dozens of complaints, that cluster becomes something agents and the kiosk companies can act on. For larger losses, file with local police too and ask for a case number, since your bank may need one to open a dispute.
The second call is a trap too
In the days after, expect a message on Telegram or Instagram, or another cold call, from someone promising to recover your crypto for a fee. That is the same world coming back for a second bite off the same list. Hold the line you should have been given the first time: a real investigator never asks for gift cards, more crypto, or an upfront cut of money they claim to recover. There is a true version of this work — where a wallet address exists, the funds can sometimes be traced as they hop between exchanges, and a regulated exchange can occasionally freeze them if it is reached fast enough. But tracing is paid, scoped work that follows the money. A guaranteed refund is only ever the bait.
When tracing is worth it
For an $800 loss, the honest answer is that the bank dispute and the federal reports are your realistic path, and paid tracing rarely makes financial sense. For five- and six-figure losses, following the wallet can be worth it, and the Investigation Help page explains the smaller attribution work we sometimes take on. When a case needs evidence that holds up in court, we route to Rexxfield.
Nothing here promises the money comes back. But the steps you take in the first day decide how much is even possible later, and the urge to shut the door and never speak of it is the one worth fighting.
— Lisa, GCCI