In Charlottetown, Canada, woman (unnamed for security reasons) put 62,500 Canadian dollars ($48,125) into bitcoin ATM, being afraid of tax debts.
At a court hearing, the woman testified that the man who phoned her argued to work for the Canada Revenue Agency. The woman testified the scammers even called her at one point claiming to be her accounting firm, advising her to pay the cash.
"It's most unfortunate that she was victim of such a sophisticated fraud. But Instacoin did not put her under duress, " said Chief Provincial Court Judge Nancy Orr.
Lawyer Michael Drake, representing bitcoin ATM’s owner, argued that the company “merely provided a financial service to the woman, by converting cash to bitcoin currency, and sending it to the computer address she provided,” the CBC's article said.
However, Orr ruled that $62,500, seized by Charlottetown police inside a bitcoin ATM, belongs to the company that owns bitcoin ATM machine.
It’s possible such case won’t be the last one. According to the analytical firm MarketsandMarkets the volume of the bitcoin ATM's market in 2018 will grow to $16.3 million.
Subscribe to our Telegram channel to stay up to date on the latest crypto and blockchain news.