The Framingham City Council voted unanimously to ban cryptocurrency ATMs after residents reported losing $397,000 to scams involving the machines since 2023, according to MetroWest Daily News.
The ban is intended to protect senior citizens, non-English speakers and lower-income residents from financial fraud. District 3 Councilor Mary Kate Feeney first introduced the proposal in October.
"This is really something to protect our seniors," Feeney said. "There are so many scams, and I don't need to tell you, I think we have all heard the horrible stories. But this is something that we can do to limit scams in our city."
Prosecutor Cites Difficulty Recovering Funds
Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan, who fully supports the ban, said her office has received 10 cryptocurrency ATM scam cases in Framingham over the past three years, totaling $397,000 in losses.
Ryan also said recovery of stolen funds is difficult.
"What's incredibly important about this is that there's no way to get access to [the stolen funds], even in those cases where we are able to successfully prosecute who may have been the scammer," she said. "We can't access the wallet that will be holding the money. Often that wallet is actually outside of the United States. There's really no good reason for these machines to be scattered around the city."
Enforcement and Statewide Context
Police will notify businesses that host the machines that they must disconnect them within a set timeframe.
Framingham joins 22 other Massachusetts communities that have passed similar prohibitions.
