ADRIAN, Mich. (WTVG) – The Adrian Police Department is warning of a surge in crypto ATM scams that has cost local victims thousands of dollars in the past week.
Police say scammers are posing as law enforcement and threatening arrest to try to force people to pay potentially thousands of dollars.
Scammers are tricking people into sending irreversible Bitcoin and other virtual currencies through local gas station ATMs using scannable QR codes, according to Adrian police.
Lane Montz, president and CEO of the Better Business Bureau of Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan, said the scam is not new, but is increasing.
“Unfortunately, it’s been on the rise steadily since 2023, but it’s really starting to explode in 2026,” Montz said.
Montz said the crypto ATM machines themselves are legal.
“What they call crypto or bitcoin ATM machines — they’re legitimate, they’re a legal device, so there’s nothing illegal about them. The problem is scammers are learning to trick people into taking money and putting it into those machines. It converts it to a crypto account, which of course is the scammer’s account, not your own,” Montz said.
Montz said recognizing the warning signs of a scam is one of the easiest ways to prevent becoming a victim. Experts say being contacted out of the blue with an urgent demand for money, or being threatened with arrest, are immediate red flags.
“Nobody that says you have to pay some sort of a debt by cryptocurrency… that is not valid. There’s no government agency that will take crypto as a payment, and you should not be paying anybody with cryptocurrency that you put into an ATM machine account,” Montz said.
According to Adrian police, multiple victims in the city have lost nearly $10,000 to these frauds.
Montz said the money cannot be recovered once sent.
“Nobody, not even the government, can get it back,” Montz said.
Adrian police have placed warning flyers above local crypto ATMs to alert potential victims. Police urge anyone who has been targeted by a crime to immediately call 911 to request an officer.
According to a post from the Adrian Police Department’s Facebook page, the ATMs are located throughout Lenawee County, usually in gas stations, with multiple machines in the city of Adrian. The post said the machines are not inherently illegal, but almost all activity involving them involves scams. The department thanked local businesses for allowing officers to post anti-scam flyers to warn potential victims.
The Better Business Bureau says once you learn of a scam, you can help by spreading the word to warn others.
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