Crypto ATM fraud will hit $333 million in the U.S. in 2025, with complaints filed by the FBI increasing 33% year-over-year as fraud networks become more industrialized as they tap into advanced AI deepfake technology.
Crypto ATM fraud is one of the fastest growing categories of financial crimes in the US, according to cybersecurity firm CertiK in its latest report published Thursday with Cointelegraph, explaining that criminal organizations use the “speed and anonymity” of crypto ATMs or “kiosks” to extract money from victims at a faster rate.
The FBI recorded more than 12,000 complaints between January and November 2025, a 33% increase over the previous year. CertiK said 78% of the world’s 45,000 cryptocurrency machines are in the US.
Their ability to convert cash to crypto in less than five minutes with minimal identity verification “makes them the lowest mining channel available to fraudsters,” the company added.
The elderly are more vulnerable to social engineering
The report also noted that there is an “attribution gap” as the blockchain only records the operator’s delivery to the destination and not the identity of the victim. This makes forensic tracing without a court order very difficult for the operator’s records.
Around 86% of losses involve victims over 60, as older people are disproportionately vulnerable due to “liquid savings”, low crypto literacy and social isolation.
However, young victims are more likely to be caught in romance or investment scams, commonly known as “killing the pig”, one of the five main tactics of scammers.
Four other approaches are government impersonation, tech support scams, “grandparent scams,” and fraudulent refund offers.
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Unlike phishing attacks or wallet leaks, which involve compromising private keys or tricking users into signing smart contract requests, ATM fraud “relies entirely on social engineering to get the victim to take a voluntary physical action at the kiosk,” CertiK said.
AI makes things worse
CertiK reports that social engineering fraud will be 4.5 times more profitable than traditional methods in 2025.
The integration of “deep real-time synthetic media” into fraud and fraud operations is a “significant near-term escalation,” it said.
“AI-driven personalization tools allow fraudsters to create social media profiles and hyper-targeted scripts that reflect the specific language, appearance and communication of a victim’s trusted contacts.”
According to CertiK, the profile of crypto ATM fraudsters has also shifted from independent actors to transnational criminal organizations operating with a corporate-level division of labor.
“Transnational Criminal Organizations Industrialize ATM Mining on an Unprecedented Scale.”
Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis said in September that she hopes the crypto market structure legislation will help combat ATM fraud by punishing bad actors without limiting innovation.
In February 2025, US Senator Dick Durbin introduced the Crypto ATM Fraud Prevention Act, which aims to introduce safeguards for users of crypto kiosks.
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