In Texas, a police officer took the unusual step of physically cutting open a crypto ATM to recover $25,000 that a family had lost to a scam. The scam involved a caller instructing the family to pay fines by depositing money into a Bitcoin ATM. After the victim became suspicious and contacted law enforcement, the police office obtained a search warrant and retrieved the cash directly from the machine to return it to the victim.
This action has sparked debate within the Bitcoin community about the appropriateness of cutting open the ATM. The police officer justified the move by emphasizing the urgency to recover the funds and prevent further trauma to the victim. The police office coordinated with the armored car service that collects money from the ATM to execute the search warrant and seize the cash.
A similar case from 2023 involved the McLennan County police office seizing $15,000 from a Bitcoin Depot machine after an elderly woman was scammed via ransomware. The police officer's office returned the money to the victim promptly, but Bitcoin Depot later filed a lawsuit claiming the police officer did not follow proper legal procedures regarding the handling and custody of the seized funds. The dispute highlighted complexities around legal processes and responsibilities between law enforcement and Bitcoin ATM operators in scam-related recoveries.
Texas law enforcement has taken direct physical action to recover scam funds from crypto ATMs, which has been effective in returning money to victims but also raised legal and procedural questions within the crypto and legal communities.
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