Australians are losing millions of dollars each year to scams linked to cryptocurrency ATMs. Now Australia’s financial crimes regulator AUSTRAC has announced a crackdown on the industry.
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00:00The cryptocurrency ATMs don't really make it possible to do anything stupid that you
00:08couldn't do stupidly on your own computer, but they make it a lot easier, which is why
00:12they're so attractive for criminals and scammers.
00:15The idea is that you set up a cryptocurrency account and then you go to the crypto ATM
00:23with cash.
00:23You put the cash into the machine and the machine then pays the equivalent amount of
00:30money into your account.
00:31So far, not necessarily disastrous, but of course, the problem is that vulnerable people
00:39might be persuaded to open up a cryptocurrency account that they would not otherwise have
00:44opened and then to pay the cash to somebody else.
00:48And is this all kind of the description of this and the sound of this kind of ringing
00:54alarm bells for you very, very loudly?
00:58Yeah, yes, very much so.
01:00So I really struggle to see any legitimate use for these kinds of machines.
01:07This is not something that a sophisticated cryptocurrency investor who's carefully considered the risks
01:12is going to use if such people exist.
01:15This, although it doesn't necessarily mean that you're automatically going to lose the
01:21money, it's clearly designed to make unwise transactions a great deal easier than they
01:28would be if the same transaction was attempted through a larger financial institution like
01:35a bank, which is a lot more likely to block a scam.
01:37And so what are some of the worst examples you've heard of of people getting ripped off
01:41by using these and how?
01:45Honestly, I'm not really at the front line of people being ripped off, but I would like
01:49to say that, first of all, the legitimate use is basically zero.
01:54So if you find yourself with a wad of cash standing in front of the machine, the overwhelming
01:59likelihood is that it's a scam and you should notify ScamWatch instead of putting the cash into
02:06the machine.
02:07If you have already been scammed, it's not a thing to be ashamed of.
02:11It's a crime against you and I'd encourage anybody who has had that crime committed against
02:18them to report it to the authorities to ScamWatch or to the police and not feel that you've done
02:24something wrong.
02:25And do you understand how it works?
02:27Because I know it's been mentioned today that there's kind of like love scams and investment
02:35scams and things like that.
02:37Do you understand how people get sucked into it?
02:40Well, I mean, the people are voluntarily transferring their money to somewhere that they shouldn't.
02:50Which is why I say the machine doesn't create a scam opportunity that isn't already there.
02:59You can still be persuaded using a completely legitimate banking service to transfer money
03:04to transfer money.
03:05So the machine isn't doing anything fundamentally different.
03:09It's just taking that stupid transfer outside of the realm of a large regulated banking system
03:17that's a lot more likely to block the transfer.
03:19Right.
03:20And so in some parts of the world, these crypto ATMs are effectively banned.
03:26Do you think they should be effectively banned here?
03:29Yes, basically I do.
03:31I don't really see any legitimate reason for people to be fronting up to the machines with
03:38a wad of cash.
03:39Everything that a sophisticated investor who's considered and carefully really wants to do
03:43is available to that sophisticated investor using their computer at home.
03:48The role of the machines is to make it really easy for really unsophisticated people to shove
03:54a lot of cash into the machine.
03:56And Vanessa Teague, just a supplementary question.
04:00What do you think of crypto overall?
04:03Like you're deeply concerned about these crypto ATMs.
04:07What about cryptocurrency dealing overall?
04:10I'm not doing any of it.
04:13Do you have any advice for people who kind of may not be too schooled up in investing,
04:24who might be considering going down the cryptocurrency path?
04:30Obviously, I'm not a financial advisor.
04:32I think all I want to say is I haven't bought any of it ever.
04:36I know.
04:37It's available.
04:38It's available.
04:39Oh, my God I'm not gonna have more goods though
04:41and I know that with these partners
04:47whilst I am having more поч treasury,
04:49any of it ever happened to me anyway.