On the 16th, the Spokane City Council unanimously passed a bill banning virtual currency ATMs, the first of its kind in Washington state.
"Cryptocurrency ATMs have become a favored tool for scammers to defraud their victims," he said in an interview with the local media outlet The Spokesman-Review.
"This move is intended to protect vulnerable Spokane residents from fraudulent cryptocurrency kiosks," the city said in a statement.
Councilman Dylan said, "This ordinance not only prohibits the installation of new virtual currency ATMs, but also prohibits the installation of existing ones.
"These devices are primarily found in low-income areas, convenience stores and grocery stores," he added.
"The number of fraudulent transactions occurring through virtual currency kiosks has increased dramatically, with victims losing thousands of dollars on a sustained basis," the city said in the ordinance.
"The law clearly states that it is a regulatory measure to protect consumers from fraud involving such devices," it said.
Spokane city officials have given cryptocurrency ATM operators 60 days to remove dozens of kiosks installed in the city.
In the future, the city council will investigate whether this measure will actually affect the number of virtual currency-related crimes.
The Spokane Police Department said it would monitor the impact and report the results.
"We have seen instances where money deposited in these ATMs has ended up in places like China, North Korea and Russia," Detective Schwering told the city council.
He said criminals were posing as police officers or tax officials and telling victims, "To protect your assets or avoid arrest, you need to convert them into virtual currency."
"The scammers trick people into thinking that they can't protect their assets unless they convert them into cryptocurrency," Schwering said. "Once they convert their assets into cryptocurrency,
There is no way to get back the funds that have been exchanged."
2025/06/19 10:25 KST
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