ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) – You see ATM’s for cryptocurrency in gas stations, convenience stores, and liquor shops.
Now the Missouri Attorney General is suing the largest crypto ATM company, CoinFlip, accusing it of profiting from scams. AG Catherine Hanaway says crypto ATM’s have become the getaway car for fraudsters in Missouri.
There are 140 CoinFlip crypto ATM’s around Missouri. You put cash in and it’s converted into cryptocurrency. You can have it added to your digital wallet, or you can use that to pay someone in cryptocurrency.
But Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway has filed a lawsuit on behalf of three scam victims, accusing CoinFlip of profiting from scams.
She explains in the suit that scammers use romance scams, fake investment opportunities, or extortion threats to persuade victims to send them money through crypto ATM’s, “avoiding the paper trails of standard financial transactions.”
“There are no legitimate calls urging you, because there’s a warrant out, because there’s a problem with your bank account, because they’re collecting a ransom for hacking into your computer, or that one of your loved ones has been abducted, that you have to rush to these machines and put money in. Simply don’t do it,” said Hanaway at a press conference announcing the lawsuit.
Hanaway accuses CoinFlip of knowingly facilitating fraudulent transactions. She says the company is profiting through fees, not always clearly disclosed, that can be upwards of 20% of the transaction’s value.
Prosecutors and Attorneys General across the country have also started accusing various crypto ATM companies of profiting from scams.
In December, First Alert 4 talked with a St. Charles County woman, 80-year-old Georgianna Merrell, who said a scammer posing as her bank convinced her to put $35,000 into a crypto ATM machine.
“I called Bitcoin and I asked about where my money was and they said well that’s distributed to wallets and they’re gone. They sent it to wallets in Nigeria,” Merrell tolds us.
We contacted CoinFlip about the lawsuit. A spokesperson sent the following statement:
“Attorney General Hanaway’s lawsuit is meritless. It’s a misguided attack on the company that has spent years urging the passage of cryptocurrency kiosk consumer protection laws in Missouri and across the country. Missouri’s 2025 cryptocurrency kiosk consumer protection legislation exists because CoinFlip demanded it. We drove the effort to establish mandatory licensure, stronger compliance standards, and meaningful consumer protection requirements designed to protect Missourians from criminal scammers. We engaged directly with lawmakers, led the charge, and got it done.
“The Attorney General is wrongfully targeting the company that championed the law that protects Missourians from criminal scammers. Rather than waste taxpayer money pursuing a licensed and regulated company, the Attorney General’s office should investigate, catch and stop those criminals preying on Missourians across the financial services ecosystem. CoinFlip will fight this lawsuit aggressively, and we look forward to demonstrating that these allegations are baseless.”
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