德克薩斯州的大草原 - 80歲的約瑟夫·布特內洛（Joseph Buentello）正通過錯誤地聲稱他的兒子在監獄中被錯誤地巡遊。

來電者告訴Buentello，如果他想讓兒子出去，他需要趕往當地的雜貨店，並通過比特幣ATM派遣5,000美元。

Grand Prairie, Texas — Joseph Buentello, 80, was cruising through retirement when he received a call erroneously claiming his son was in jail.

德克薩斯州的大草原 - 80歲的約瑟夫·布特內洛（Joseph Buentello）正通過錯誤地聲稱他的兒子在監獄中被錯誤地巡遊。

"I was scared, I hit the panic button and I let my panic take control of my good judgment," Buentello, of Grand Prairie, Texas, told CBS News.

德克薩斯州大草原的Buentello告訴CBS News：“我很害怕，我打了恐慌按鈕，讓我的恐慌控制了我的良好判斷。”

The caller told Buentello that if he wanted to get his son out, he needed to rush to his local grocery store and send $5,000 through a bitcoin ATM.

來電者告訴Buentello，如果他想讓兒子出去，他需要趕往當地的雜貨店，並通過比特幣ATM派遣5,000美元。

Buentello said he never even thought about calling his son first.

Buentello說，他甚至從未想過先打電話給兒子。

"They said there is nothing we can do about it," said Buentello the ATM operator told him after he was scammed. "That money has already been distributed. They said it was distributed the minute you got through putting your money in there."

“他們說我們無能為力，” ATM操作員Buentello在被騙後告訴他。 “這筆錢已經被分配了。他們說，這是在您通過將錢放進去的那一刻分發的。”

That is why, Buentello learned, the cryptocurrency scammers wanted him to use that machine. Often found inside convenience stores, Bitcoin ATMs resemble regular ATMs and provide a legitimate and straightforward method to convert cash into cryptocurrency.

這就是為什麼Buentello了解到，加密貨幣騙子希望他使用該機器。比特幣ATM通常在便利店內發現，類似於常規ATM，並提供了一種合法且直接的方法將現金轉換為加密貨幣。

According to data from the Federal Trade Commission, between 2020 to 2023, consumer losses in bitcoin ATM scams skyrocketed nearly tenfold, from $12 million annually in 2020 to $114 million annually in 2023. During that timeframe, consumers over the age of 60 were more than three times more likely than younger adults to lose money to bitcoin scams, the FTC found.

根據聯邦貿易委員會的數據，在2020年至2023年之間，比特幣ATM騙局中的消費者損失飆升了近十倍，從2020年的每年1200萬美元到2023年的每年1.14億美元。在那段時間裡，60歲以上的消費者比年輕人更可能損失30歲以上的消費者。

And getting the money back has been tough.

拿回錢一直很艱難。

When McLennan County Sheriff Parnell McNamara first joined law enforcement back in 1970, he said the biggest thieves in the Texas county were bank robbers.

麥克倫南縣警長帕內爾·麥克納馬拉（Parnell McNamara）於1970年首次加入執法部門時，他說得克薩斯州縣最大的小偷是銀行搶劫犯。

"Take a gun, go rob a bank, get the money, and we'd go after 'em," McNamara said. "But this is a totally different deal now."

麥克納馬拉說：“拿槍，搶一家銀行，拿錢，我們會追隨他們。” “但這現在是完全不同的交易。”

A couple of years ago, after a caller scammed an 83-year-old woman in Waco, Texas, into depositing $15,000 into a bitcoin ATM, McNamara's deputies pulled the cash right out of the machine and returned it to her.

幾年前，在呼叫者將一名83歲的婦女騙了德克薩斯州韋科的一名婦女後，將15,000美元存入了比特幣ATM中後，麥克納馬拉的代表將現金從機器中撤出，並將其退還給她。

The bitcoin ATM operator then sued the county, claiming the seizure was unlawful, but the lawsuit was eventually dismissed and the woman was allowed to keep the money.

然後，比特幣ATM運營商起訴該縣，聲稱癲癇發作是違法的，但訴訟最終被駁回，該婦女被允許保留這筆錢。

However, the lawsuit was dismissed only after the county admitted that the funds were seized "in error."

但是，只有在該縣承認這些資金被扣押“錯誤”之後，訴訟才被駁回。

McNamara doesn't regret how the situation was handled.

麥克納馬拉不後悔如何處理這種情況。

"I don't regret it at all," McNamara said. "We got the lady's money back. It should have gone back to her."

麥克納馬拉說：“我一點都不後悔。” “我們把那位女士的錢回來了。它應該回到她身邊。”

Bitcoin ATM operators told CBS News that they take extensive measures to warn users about fraud, including displaying up to six screens alerting customers to potential scams.

比特幣ATM運營商告訴CBS News，他們採取了廣泛的措施來警告用戶有關欺詐行為，包括顯示多達六個屏幕，以提醒客戶潛在的騙局。

In recent years, a handful of states, including California, Vermont and Minnesota passed laws regulating Bitcoin ATMs. However, most of the country, including Texas, has no regulations.

近年來，包括加利福尼亞州，佛蒙特州和明尼蘇達州在內的少數州通過了監管比特幣ATM的法律。但是，包括德克薩斯州在內的大多數國家都沒有法規。

"I feel like such a fool," Buentello said.

“我覺得真是個傻瓜，”布倫特洛說。

Had there been any sort of refund policy in place when he made his transaction, Buentello believes could have saved his money and avoided the scam.

如果他進行交易時有任何退款政策，Buentello認為本可以節省自己的錢並避免騙局。

According to the FTC, scammers will often offer an urgent reason for the victim to withdraw cash from their bank account and deposit it in a bitcoin ATM. They will provide a QR code that victims can scan, which deposits the money directly into the scammers' crypto account.

根據FTC的說法，騙子通常會為受害者從其銀行帳戶中撤回現金並將其存入比特幣ATM中。他們將提供一個QR碼可以掃描的QR碼，將資金直接存入詐騙者的加密帳戶。

Some tips from the FTC to avoid being scammed include never clinking on unknown links or responding directly to unexpected calls or unknown text messages. Scammers will be trying to rush you, so you should slow down and consult with someone you trust. And never withdraw cash in response to an unexpected call or message.

FTC避免被騙取的一些提示包括永遠不會碰到未知鏈接或直接響應意外的呼叫或未知的短信。騙子將試圖趕緊您，因此您應該放慢腳步並諮詢您信任的人。並且切勿根據意外的電話或消息撤回現金。