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ST. PAUL, Minn. (KFGO/Learfield) – Minnesota is set to ban kiosks that sell virtual currencies like Bitcoin later this year under a bill Governor Walz signed into law this week. St. Cloud Police Sergeant Jake Lanz says scams involving the machines can be hard to investigate.
“These cases for us to investigate are incredibly difficult based off of how the money moves through from the ATM and then transactions that typically lead overseas outside of our jurisdiction to recover the funds anyhow,” Lanz said.
The kiosks have also been used in scams targeting Minnesota’s older population.
“We had a case within the past two years of a 78-year-old woman that it all started out as a notification on her tablet at home that she had some explicit images, and she was directed to one of these ATMs. And by the end of the whole scenario, she had lost $80,000.” Lanz said.
There are roughly 350 kiosks in Minnesota, all of which will need to be removed by the end of the year.
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