Maine bitcoin ATM scam victims urged to seek refunds before April 1
BANGOR, Maine (WABI) -Following a surge of complaints, the Maine Bureau of Consumer Credit Protection launched a two-year investigation into bitcoin ATM-style kiosks operating across the state and found thousands of residents were steered into scams using the machines.
Now, Maine officials and AARP Maine are urging anyone who believes they lost money in a bitcoin-related kiosk scam to apply for reimbursement before an April 1 deadline.
The bureau, working with the Maine Attorney General’s Office, reached a settlement in December 2025 that orders a virtual currency kiosk operator to pay $1.9 million to reimburse eligible Maine consumers who experienced fraud, the bureau said.
“It isn’t the company that is the bad guy here,” said Edward Myslik, Principal Consumer Credit Examiner, Maine Bureau of Consumer Credit Protection.
“It is the scammers who are directing the victims to use these machines to facilitate the crimes.”
The investigation began in late 2022 and accelerated in 2023 as regulators analyzed virtual currency kiosks — often described as bitcoin ATMs — located in everyday places such as convenience stores and gas stations, the bureau said.
“A bitcoin ATM-related kiosk — or under the law we call them virtual currency kiosks — look exactly like a standard ATM machine,” he said. “If you go into a convenience store or a gas station you may see these standalone machines that resemble regular conventional ATMs, but they’ll have the name of some other bitcoin-connected title to them.”
Regulators say the scams typically involve criminals contacting victims — often by phone, text or online messages — and creating a sense of urgency. Victims are directed to withdraw cash and deposit it into a virtual currency kiosk. The scammer then instructs the victim on where to send the funds, transferring money to the criminal’s wallet.
“They would send the victim to these machines because the machines were standalone,” Edward said. “There was nobody there to oversee the transactions in some of these cases.”
The bureau emphasized that the fraud is driven by criminals who use the kiosks’ existing technology and the lack of oversight at the point of transaction to pressure victims into sending money quickly — often before they have time to talk to family, bank staff or law enforcement.
Officials say the problem is not limited to one age group.
While older adults are often targeted in financial scams, Edward said regulators have also seen a significant rise in scams affecting younger people nationwide.
“These scams are engineered at such a sophisticated level,” he said. “If you’ve never had any type of exposure to how these are done, it is a lot easier than people think to fall for these scams.”
What to do if you think you were scammed
- Apply for reimbursement before April 1 if you believe you lost money through a bitcoin/virtual currency kiosk scam in Maine.
- Gather documentation: receipts, transaction records, texts/emails, screenshots, and any wallet/address information provided by the scammer.
- Report it to local law enforcement and keep a copy of the report, if available.
- Slow down if someone is pressuring you to pay immediately — especially by cryptocurrency, gift cards or wire transfer.
- Talk to someone you trust before sending money: a family member, your bank, or consumer protection officials.
While the deadline is April 1, officials say Mainers can apply and contact the Bureau with questions as long as the application process is open.
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