‘Rogue’ Police Are Destroying Bitcoin ATMs: Bitcoin Depot Legal Chief

American law enforcement officials who use brutal strength to grab cash from Bitcoin money machines exceed their authority and can violate the law, said Bitcoin Depot Clo Chris Ryan.

Ryan told Decrypt That funds police can rightly go to the Atlanta, the Georgia-based supplier of Bitcoin money machines, and that they are liable for damage to the machines, even if they try to return large amounts to consumers who say they have been scammed.

“You have these rogue law enforcement officers who think they are doing the right things by these consumers,” said Ryan. “What they actually do is create another victim, namely we, with the damage of our property and the grasp of our funds.”

Last week, authorities in Texas used electrical tools To pick up $ 32,000 from a Bitcoin depot kiosk. Because law enforcement is cut in “the actual body of the kiosk”, the machine must be completely replaced, according to Bitcoin Depot COO Scot Buchanan. A Bitcoin depot kiosk costs $ 14,000 under a profit program, according to that of the company website.

“In most cases, where [cops are] Just to break into physical, they are just in total [the machine]’Buchanan told Decrypt.

If authorities try to grab money from a Bitcoin depot kiosk, the company will always unlock the machine, Buchanan said. In the event that the real estate of Bitcoin Depot is damaged, the company will ask for paying law enforcement the bill, but municipalities “often do not have the means to offer a refund,” Ryan said.

“It’s not the norm that we would get something back,” he said.

Jasper County Sheriff Chuck Havard directed Decrypt to a department Facebook messageSaying that he cannot discuss the incident that since then has become ‘pending lawsuits’.

Scammers use Bitcoin money machines and the irreversible nature of crypto-transactions, to cheat people from hard-earned funds, often the government or banks imply. In 2024, Americans lost at least $ 247 million due to crypto -kiosks, an increase of 31% compared to 2023, one FBI report found. As soon as a scammer receives the bitcoin from a victim, it is difficult to recover those funds.

When a customer uses a Bitcoin money machine, he puts cash in the machine. Bitcoin Depot then says that it sells a required amount of bitcoin directly to the user. To complete the transaction, a user must provide a wallet address that receives the Bitcoin. Scammers often offer a victim an address, hoping to receive the Bitcoin that a customer has just bought.

Bitcoin Depot feels “terrible for these people being scammed,” but the company has the right to keep the money, Ryan said, adding that some agents do not understand the company’s business model, or the fact that the Bitcoin is actually stolen that is actually stolen effectively.

“Once that transaction is completed, when the user inserts his money and his crypto is financed in the wallet of your choice, that our involvement in the transaction,” said Ryan.

Confusion can arise before the court when the authorities apply for the righteous to display the lost cash of victims as the proceeds of a crime, and not the Bitcoin with which scammers were under -presented. Law enforcement will take money from Bitcoin depot -kiosks in a certain year, Ryan said, and noted that most cases are not brutal strength.

“You have a subset that just doesn’t go through the warrant process at all,” Ryan added. “They will call us and they will say,” We are about to break into your machine. “

Each State has its own laws, but the Iowa Supreme Court ruled two fallen This year that Bitcoin depot was entitled to the money of victims. That is because deposits must say under the conditions of the company that they have the digital wallet that Bitcoin receives. With the help of the machine, Bitcoin depot also warns that addresses provided by third parties can be scam.

A spokesperson for a Bitcoin depot told Decrypt That the company “successfully defended similar illegal actions by law enforcement” in North Carolina, Virginia, Massachusetts, Louisiana and Washington. Some lawsuits with regard to seized funds, such as a submitted by Bitcoin Depot against Wood County in Wisconsin, are organized Before they prepare it.

The complaints center of the internet crimes, or IC3, a Division of the FBI, published a PSA in 2021 that fraud cases with regard to crypto money machines increased, warning That near-instant scheme “can leave many victims with a financial loss.”

In most fraud cases with Bitcoin money machines, it is “impossible to get the money back”, Pennsylvania warned -processor general Dave Sunday in a Consumer warning In February.

Bitcoin Depot says that it cooperates with local law enforcement to follow the crypto of victims, whereby the crypto -analyzed company Elliptic is applied as a way to offer them transaction racing tools. The company also has a team, including former law enforcement, to coordinate with local authorities, to explain the company and to help victims to file a complaint with the IC3 of the FBI.

‘The’ smash and grabs’ destruction of our property [is] Fortunately not the majority of these kinds of actions, “said Ryan.” They don’t really understand how crypto works in general, so we do our best to help them, outside of all our other responsibilities. “

Published by James Rubin