SALEM – On Friday afternoon, the Office of Essex County District Attorney Paul F. Tucker and local law enforcement partners returned approximately $20,000 to three victims of cryptocurrency ATM scams. The funds were seized following 2025 investigations by Essex County police departments, the New England State Police Information Network (NESPIN), and investigators and attorneys in Tucker’s office.
In one scam, a Middleton woman was convinced to send more than $11,000 using a Bitcoin Depot ATM machine located in the Country Farm convenience store on Maple Street in Danvers. After she had difficulty logging in to her PayPal account, a fake customer service representative claiming to be with PayPal told her by phone that her account had been hacked and she would need to create a new one. The “rep” then convinced her that $19,000 had been fraudulently used from her account, and that if she sent in $10,000, they would “call it even.” Fortunately, Middleton Police Department Detective Adam Maccini got involved quickly and, via a search warrant, was able to retrieve the funds from the scammer’s digital crypto-wallet.
In another scam, a man in his 70s from Salem received an email stating that he needed to pay $450 to get rid of a virus on his computer. When the victim attempted to send $200, he was told that he had accidentally withdrawn $20,000 from the scammer’s account; the scammer, who had gained remote access to the victim’s computer, showed the victim a fake digital bank statement which indicated that his “bank account” now had an additional $20,000 in it. This convinced the victim that he needed to send money “back” to the other party, even though the $20,000 deposit didn’t exist. He deposited $4,400 into a crypto-ATM kiosk at the Pump ‘n Pantry gas station in Lynnfield. Lynnfield Police Department Detective Jared Provost then obtained a search warrant to claw back the money.
In a third scam, a man in his 60s from Andover was convinced to send a scammer approximately $12,000 via a Bitcoin Depot ATM machine at a Cumberland Farms in New Hampshire. While logged in to his Facebook account, the man had received a message saying that his account had been “compromised,” along with a phone number to call to fix the problem. Those who answered his call identified themselves as federal agents and threatened him with criminal charges. They also instructed him not to tell his wife or anyone else. In a state of fear and panic, he submitted to their demands but also took a photo of the crypto-ATM screen containing the crypto-wallet ID and transaction amount. Andover Police Department Detective Daniel Devine then obtained a search warrant to retrieve the funds.
On Friday, Tucker’s office and law enforcement partners were able to return a majority of the funds to all three of these victims. Since 2024, DA Tucker’s office has seized blockchain cryptocurrency valued at more than $160,000, almost all of which originated from fraud via crypto-ATM kiosks.
