Keller bans crypto ATMs. The scams were targeting your abuela.

When Albuquerque’s City Council took up a ban on crypto ATMs, the city’s consumer protection office described a local case.

A 69-year-old widow lost $10,000 at a Bitcoin ATM inside a gas station.

On Friday, Mayor Tim Keller signed the ban.

“Scammers are constantly finding new ways to separate people from their money, and these kiosks have become another tool they can use,” Keller said in the city’s news release.

What the ban does

The ordinance is short:

• No crypto ATMs anywhere in city limits.
• No buying crypto from a cashier at a store counter either.
• Machines shut off the day the law takes effect. They have to be gone within 45 days.
• Every machine, every day, counts as a separate violation.
• The city can pull the business license of a store that hosts one.
• Owning, buying and trading crypto online stays legal.

The council passed it 6-3 on Sept. 9. Councilors Stephanie Telles and Tammy Fiebelkorn sponsored it.

A public tracker lists 47 active kiosks in Albuquerque.

How the scam works

The caller says they are the police, a government office or the utility company.

Then, the FBI says, they walk the person through it: how to pull cash from the bank, find a kiosk and feed the money in.

Once the coins are sent, the money is almost never coming back.

What it costs here

The FBI counts the scams people report to it. For 2025, its state figures show:

• New Mexicans filed 109 complaints about scams that used a crypto kiosk.
• They reported losing $2.3 million.
• That is about $20,800 a complaint.

The FBI adds a caveat. A complaint can include other payments too, so not every dollar went through a kiosk.

Across the country the totals are bigger, and growing:

• 13,460 complaints and $389 million lost, up 58% from 2024.
• People 60 and older filed 6,188 of those complaints.
• They reported $257 million of the losses. That is about two of every three dollars.

Crypto scams of every kind, not just the kiosks, cost New Mexicans who reported them $45.2 million in 2025.

That is more than half of everything they reported losing to internet crime that year.

The case against

Councilors Brook Bassan, Renée Grout and Dan Lewis voted no.

Lewis said scams happen just as often at regular banks, The Paper reported. He wanted lighting and camera rules for the kiosks instead of a ban.

If the phone rings

The FBI’s advice is blunt: “No legitimate law enforcement or government official will call to demand payment via a cryptocurrency kiosk.”

In Albuquerque, once the ban takes effect, the kiosks are supposed to go dark.