AARP Nebraska
The Nebraska Legislature’s Banking, Commerce and Insurance coverage Committee will maintain a listening to on a essential invoice on Monday, February 3, at 1:30 p.m. CT, geared toward safeguarding residents in opposition to the escalating risk of scams involving cryptocurrency kiosks and present playing cards.
LB609, launched by State Senator Eliot Bostar and endorsed by AARP Nebraska, goals to determine rules for cryptocurrency kiosks, generally often known as digital forex ATMs. The proposed necessities embody the licensing of state operators, imposing each day transaction limits, issuing fraud warning notices, offering transactional data receipts, and capping charges.
AARP Nebraska is advocating for these essential client protections that can deter criminals from leveraging cryptocurrency kiosks. This laws goals to guard older Nebraskans from dropping their hard-earned cash, typically their life financial savings, to those intricate scams.
“Cryptocurrency kiosks are comparatively new and stay largely unregulated on the state stage in comparison with conventional monetary establishments. This lack of regulation has sadly allowed criminals to use these machines for theft,” said Jina Ragland, AARP Nebraska’s Affiliate State Director of Advocacy and Outreach.
In 2023 alone, the FBI acquired over 5,500 complaints involving cryptocurrency kiosks, with reported losses amounting to over $189 million. Alarmingly, greater than 65% of those losses have been incurred by people aged 60 and above. Total, the FBI reported $5.6 billion in crypto-fraud losses in the identical yr.
Nebraskans themselves reported 239 digital forex rip-off complaints in 2023, totaling roughly $14.6 million in losses. It’s believed that precise losses could also be even larger, as many victims hesitate to report scams.
AARP Nebraska is joined by a broad vary of invoice supporters set to testify in favor of LB609 together with Nebraska’s Consumer Protections Deputy with the Lawyer Basic’s Workplace, the Higher Enterprise Bureau of the Midwest Plains, the Nebraska Sheriff’s Affiliation, the Lincoln Police Division, and shoppers providing private testimony, amongst others. To be taught extra about LB609, go to https://nebraskalegislature.gov/bills/.
