By Ivy Secrest
Wyoming Tribune Eagle
Via- Wyoming News Exchange
CHEYENNE — As 2025 came to an end, a Cheyenne resident reported a loss of approximately $98,000 to the Cheyenne Police Department as a result of a year’s worth of scams.
Like many victims, the individual had no interest in speaking publicly, according to Detective Sgt. Kevin Malatesta.
“A lot of our victims feel embarrassed or ashamed,” Malatesta said. “(They) don’t really want to talk about it, don’t admit it to themselves.”
However, talking about it and reporting it are essential, Malatesta said, because smart people can easily become victims of scams, and reporting it gives law enforcement the chance to take action.
While the scams haven’t changed, the method of payment in some cases has. Now more than ever, scammers are using virtual currency kiosks, sometimes referred to as Bitcoin ATMs, to get victims to transfer funds.
Scammers have increasingly directed victims to these Bitcoin ATMs, as they enable a more anonymous transaction than depositing the cash at a financial institution, AARP Wyoming Associate State Director Tom Lacock told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle on Wednesday.
“You get your money so quickly, and you can be pretty anonymous with it,” Lacock said.
These scams move fast, taking anywhere from a few hundred to tens of thousands of dollars from victims.
In an attempt to prevent these transactions, several states are starting to take action against the machines themselves, regulating them similarly to financial institution ATMs.
While, like ATMs, these kiosks are subject to Know Your Customer and Anti-Money Laundering laws, and kiosk operators are required to register as Money Services Businesses with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, there isn’t currently a way to confirm that’s happening in the state.
Lacock, Malatesta and Wyoming Banking Commissioner Jeremiah Bishop have been encouraging the Legislature to change that, advocating for a draft bill that would make the Wyoming Division of Banking a regulator of kiosks in the state.
Included in that draft are also requirements for the kiosks to be licensed, have disclosures, set transaction limits, offer refunds, limit transaction fees, and several other requirements that advocates feel will protect consumers.
“We’re not trying to kick anyone out of business,” Lacock said. “We’re not trying to push anyone out of the state. We’re saying there’s room for everyone to play here, but let’s just do it in a way that doesn’t take advantage of our citizens.”
The draft bill has yet to be approved for introduction, and the deadline to do so is Feb. 13.
The risks
The risk for Wyomingites in these scams is very real. People in Cheyenne, the home of a quarter of the state’s kiosks, reported losing approximately $666,350 from 2024 to 2025 to scams requesting funds associated with these kiosks.
That’s not including the $98,000 loss reported this year, or the thousands lost by other victims in the state. It also only accounts for scams that were reported. Malatesta suspects that reported losses are just the tip of the iceberg.
“I would wager to bet there’s a lot of people out there that are victims who simply haven’t reported because the loss is small enough or they’re embarrassed about it,” Malatesta said.
This is also not just a Wyoming issue.
Last year, the FBI reported nearly 11,000 complaints of cryptocurrency ATM fraud. Those cases disproportionately affected older Americans and cost victims $246.7 million.
In 2023, the FBI received more than 5,500 complaints involving crypto kiosks, with more than $189 million reported in stolen funds. More than 65% of the theft losses in cryptocurrency kiosk fraud were experienced by adults over the age of 60.
Even with that trend, younger adults and middle-aged adults can also easily become victims.
Often, victims of scams are viewed as less intelligent people or people who weren’t smart enough to pick up on obvious signs, but in reality, that’s not the case, experts say.
“We hear it from people that have run multimillion-dollar businesses,” Lacock said. “People who run financial institutions. It just depends, if they get you on that day when you’re maybe not at the top of your game.”
Both Malatesta and Lacock noted that often scammers are experts at taking advantage of the moment and people’s emotions. For example, during tax season, perpetrators will run more tax refund scams, or during cold weather, more utility scams emerge.
“Scammers trying to get you out of the deep thinking, logical part of your brain and get you into a very emotional place,” Lacock said. “And that’s why they give you a timeline, they use fear, or, in some cases, joy.”
Part of the hope is that regulating the kiosks on a state level would give people that extra minute to calm down and regain their senses, giving them a moment to rethink sending thousands to an unknown caller.
Legal action
Should the draft bill, sponsored by Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie, be approved for introduction and considered during the upcoming budget session, legislators would be tasked with balancing the priorities of law enforcement, AARP and the businesses operating these kiosks.
AARP is advocating for consumer protections intended to deter perpetrators of scams from leveraging cryptocurrency kiosks in their schemes.
In addition to licensure, AARP is advocating for implementing daily transaction limits; posting fraud warning notices and clarifying steps people should take if they suspect fraudulent activity; clearly displaying the fees and exchange rate charged; providing receipts with relevant transactional information, and requiring cryptocurrency operators to refund transaction fees for transactions related to fraud.
“Transaction limits are the top priority,” Lacock said. “That’s the thing that police and other states have said makes a difference. That piece, and then the refund piece, especially on transaction fees.”
Should the proposed bill pass, Wyoming would not be the first to legislate kiosks or pass rules to restrict their activities. In addition to several states with similar legislation, some, including Iowa, have made moves to sue these companies.
Operators aren’t necessarily opposed to regulations, though there are discrepancies on which regulations each company supports and opposes. Coin-Flip, which has operated its cryptocurrency kiosks in Wyoming since 2020, has already begun to engage in this conversation with the Legislature.
“We can’t speak for the entire industry, but we take consumer protection seriously and hold ourselves to the highest standards of compliance and transparency,” a spokesperson wrote in a statement emailed to the Wyoming Tribune Eagle on Thursday. “As evidenced by our strong public support of legislation, we strongly believe in common-sense rules and clear disclosures, and want everyone in the industry to be held to the same high standards we meet voluntarily.”
The statement indicated that CoinFlip supports the draft bills proposed by the Select Committee on Blockchain, Financial Technology and Digital Innovation Technology, and looks forward to working with legislators should the bill progress.
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