Spokane Valley on Tuesday voted unanimously to ban virtual currency kiosks, moving to shut down machines police say have helped fuel a surge of fraud cases in the city. Businesses with kiosks now have 30 days to remove them or face a $250 penalty and possible loss of their business license.
Police Chief Dave Ellis said the kiosks have become a conduit for scammers who steer victims into sending money they cannot get back. He said several cases in Spokane Valley have ended in major financial losses, and one case resulted in a suicide. “Those kiosks are a tool to facilitate scams,” Ellis said.
The ban comes after years of rising losses tied to these machines. The Federal Bureau of Investigation reported that in 2023, virtual currency kiosk-aided scams cost people in the United States nearly $5.6 billion, including $141.7 million in Washington. Spokane Valley officials said they are trying to cut off one of the fastest paths fraudsters use to collect money before more people are hurt.
Financial crimes detective Elijah Jones said the scams usually begin over the phone or by text, with criminals posing as authority figures and inventing threats to pressure people into paying. In one common scheme, he said, a caller tells a victim they have an arrest warrant for missing jury duty and demands $10,000. “People are being scammed and being directed to use them by bad actors, by criminals, to transfer money to them,” Ellis said.
Jones said once money is sent through a kiosk, police cannot recover it. He said the machines often charge transaction fees of 17.5% or 50%, making the loss even steeper for victims who are already being pushed into panic. “We can’t go to the ATM and get it back,” he said.
Ellis said there are roughly 15 kiosks in Spokane Valley, while Coinflip shows six virtual kiosks within city limits. Several locations, including a Circle K at Pines Road and Valleyway Avenue, removed their kiosks before Tuesday’s vote, though a Bitcoin ATM still operates at Broadway Mini Mart.
The city’s move follows a similar unanimous ban passed by Spokane City Council last year. Jones said the aim is not just to remove machines, but to force scammers to add more steps and create more chances for victims to realize they are being cheated before their savings are gone. “What we’re trying to do is to make it more difficult for scammers to get the money, so there are more steps that victims have to go through with scammers, and so they’ll realize they’re being scammed before they lose money,” he said.
