Bitcoin ATM scams are soaring – and older adults are increasingly the victims

We generally don't sell speculative investments at the Kwik-e-Mart. There's no Charles Schwab kiosk next to the hot dog roller. The clerk doesn't ask if I want municipal bonds with my dubious boner pills and Lucky Strikes. The closest thing I can even imagine is forex, and even then, outside of limited trading in Pesos at the Mexican border, that's still "visit the bank and we'll call you back in a week when the envelope full of notes arrives."

Can someone describe what the legitimate market niche it serves? I'd expect that if you're in a situation where you want to use crypto as an investment, or to facilitate non-scam transactions, you have access to the Internet and non-cash payment systems, so you could use a regular exchange.

My guess is that it evolved out of the localbitcoins mindset, and more generally "people who assume typical blockchain is way more private than it is"-- because feeding cash into a kiosk without a formal KYC process is less documented than opening a Coinbase account.

Somehow people still fall for the scams. As long as the scammers are able to keep victims panicked, no amount of warnings will help.