Crypto Kiosk Scams Cost Texans $57M as Lawmakers Weigh a Ban

Texans lost $56.8 million to cryptocurrency kiosks last year, more than any other state, according to FBI figures put before a legislative committee on Thursday. The state accounted for 1,179 of the 13,460 complaints the bureau logged nationally in 2025, a year in which reported losses to the machines rose 58% to $389 million.

The kiosks take cash and convert it to crypto, and sit in gas stations and convenience stores. The Texas Tribune counts about 4,000 across the state. Scammers persuade victims to withdraw money from their bank accounts and feed it into a machine.

What lawmakers heard

The House Committee on Homeland Security, Public Safety and Veterans' Affairs took invited testimony on foreign financial influence and turned quickly to crypto. "In my career, I've never seen a more efficient, cleaner way to steal money," Rep. AJ Louderback said. Kelley Currie, an Atlantic Council fellow, told the committee that Interpol now treats scamming as an industry comparable to drug and human trafficking.

Currie went further, saying the kiosks in gas stations "are run by Chinese money launderers." The Justice Department has charged Chinese nationals over crypto fraud compounds in Southeast Asia and prosecuted Chinese money laundering networks moving scam proceeds, but has not said those groups generally operate kiosks.

Jesse Saucillo, deputy commissioner at the Texas Department of Banking, said recovery is close to impossible once the money moves. Funds typically go to an unhosted wallet, he said, which then "gets into a mixer" and beyond, leaving it "very hard to get any of that back." AI-generated impersonation of police and state agencies is making the approach calls more convincing, he added.

Crypto kiosks in the U.S.

Some 30 states have enacted legislation relating to crypto kiosks since 2023, according to AARP. South Dakota caps transactions at $1,000 a day and $10,000 a month and requires full refunds for fraud victims, and Wisconsin and Virginia have similar caps. Maine's regulator secured a $1.9 million settlement from Bitcoin Depot to reimburse victims.

Indiana banned the machines outright in March, the first state to do so, under a law that lets the attorney general sue both operators and the shops hosting them. Nearly 900 kiosks were running there when the governor signed it. Tennessee and Minnesota have since followed.

Committee chair Rep. Cole Hefner said Texas would look at "doing more than regulating them," and hinted at a bill. "I got a pretty good idea coming down," he told colleagues. "And it's kind of simple, but kind of abrupt."