https://ia.acs.org.au/article/2025/crypto-atms-could-be-banned-in-australia-as--high-risk-.html

Cryptocurrency ATMs are a “high risk product” that are hard to trace and could be banned in Australia altogether, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has warned while introducing legislation to expand AUSTRAC’s anti money laundering (AML) powers.

The machines, which let customers deposit cash for conversion into the anonymous cryptocurrency favoured by scammers and criminals, have spread rapidly in Australia, which had just 23 crypto ATMs six years ago but now has over 2,000 of the devices.

That’s the third highest penetration of crypto ATMs in the world, Burke told the National Press Club on Wednesday, warning that the machines – which handle around 150,000 transactions worth $275 million annually – are a soft spot in Australia’s AML defences.

With the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) finding 99 per cent of crypto ATMs’ usage is for depositing cash – and that 85 per cent of the money going into them “involved scams or money mules” – Burke said they create “a significant problem in an area which is much harder for us to trace.”

That had allowed cybercriminals to target Australians with impunity, tricking them into romance and other scams, with Burke citing the case of a 77-year-old woman who was tricked by an investment scammer into using crypto ATMs to send him $430,000.

Australians aged 50 to 70 are the biggest users of crypto ATMs, AUSTRAC’s Crypto Taskforce found, and account for nearly 72 per cent of all transactions by value, with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) Scamwatch reporting that romance scams alone stole $8.4 million this year.

Banks’ AML checks could flag such activity but ATMs operate outside of that system, Burke said, making them “an easy point of entry for some of the worst elements in our country to be able to transfer cash into currency in a way that is harder for us to find.”

Stemming the flow of cash to criminals

Scammers have tricked Australians out of more than $210 million this year alone, according to Scamwatch, with those 65 and over accounting for $62.4 million of that and those aged 55 to 64 losing an additional $28.8 million.

In June, AUSTRAC refused to renew one crypto ATM operator’s registration and imposed transaction limits on others – but Burke has now flagged legislation to give the agency stronger powers, empowering AUSTRAC to restrict or prohibit “high risk products”.

“And be in no doubt,” he said, “that crypto ATMs are a high-risk product.”

AUSTRAC CEO Brendan Thomas welcomed the changes, citing the “unacceptable risk of money laundering across some channels” and adding that the new powers enable AUSTRAC “to adapt to the evolving risk environment in more responsive ways.”

“Organised criminals continue to find new and creative ways to launder money,” Thomas added, “making it harder for [AML] controls to work.”

“Crypto transactions are becoming integrated into money laundering methodologies, and crypto ATMs present even more risks due to the ability to turn cash into digital currency that can be sent instantly and virtually anonymously across the globe.”

Protecting students from criminal exploitation

Additional new legislation will target cryptocurrency ‘mules’, who are often overseas university students paid by cybercriminals to give them access to their bank accounts when their visas expire and they leave Australia.

Those accounts are used by cybercriminals to deposit scam proceeds or revenues from ransomware extortion – which security firm NordStellar recently reported increased 47 per cent year on year – and move them out of the country without authorities knowing.

“An account that has been completely legitimate for three or five years is now in the hands of organised crime,” Burke said, noting that Australian banks closed 22,000 such mule accounts during the last financial year alone.

“We have accounts that have never been previously used for these purposes but have received international deposits because they’re overseas students – and they’re suddenly being used to fund some of the worst examples of organised crime.”

Overseas students need to be warned not to partake in such illegal activities, Burke said, adding that he has written to university peak bodies for help in getting that message out.

To improve detection of mule accounts, Burke will also introduce new powers by updating the terms and conditions of the Visa Entitlement Verification Online (VEVO) system so banks can query the customer’s visa status with Home Affairs.

The changes, Burke said, will facilitate the “simple passing through of information… to determine whether someone is likely to have left Australia”, meaning that subsequent bank activity is likely being conducted by criminals.

“Having AUSTRAC within the portfolio makes that conversation seamless,” Burke said, “and all of this gives me more tools to try to deliver on my objective for people to be safe, and to feel safe.”