Georgia residents who lose money to scammers at cryptocurrency kiosks will soon have a direct path to demand refunds from the machines’ operators. Gov. Brian P. Kemp signed HB 945, enacted as Act 478, creating a consumer-protection regime for virtual currency kiosks that takes effect July 1, 2026. The law gives new customers a 72-hour window to report fraud and request their money back, a right that did not exist under prior state rules. It also imposes fee caps, mandatory warning disclosures, and transaction limits on kiosk operators across the state.
Why the 72-hour refund window changes the equation for kiosk operators
Until now, cryptocurrency transactions at kiosks have been treated as essentially irreversible. The Georgia Department of Banking and Finance has warned consumers that once funds are converted to virtual currency and sent, recovery is extremely difficult. That one-way dynamic made kiosks attractive to fraudsters who pose as government officials, tech-support agents, or romantic interests and pressure victims into feeding cash into a machine. The new law shifts part of that risk onto operators by requiring them to honor refund demands from first-time customers who report a scam within 72 hours, according to the enacted statute.
The practical effect is that operators now have a financial incentive to screen transactions before they go through, not just after a complaint surfaces. Kiosk companies that want to avoid absorbing refund costs will likely add identity verification steps and purpose-of-transaction questions at the point of sale. If those screens work as intended, the volume of scam-linked transactions should decline measurably within the first year of enforcement, even before the state publishes full licensing data for the industry.
The 72-hour window is also narrow enough that operators can build their compliance systems around it. For example, companies may choose to delay releasing cryptocurrency on higher-risk, first-time transactions until the refund period has lapsed, or they may segregate funds associated with new users so that a refund can be issued quickly if a complaint arrives. While the law does not dictate specific technical controls, it effectively forces kiosk businesses to treat fraud prevention as a core operating cost rather than an afterthought.
Federal data and Georgia enforcement actions behind the new rules
Georgia did not act in a vacuum. Federal agencies have documented a sharp rise in fraud routed through bitcoin ATMs. The FTC published a data spotlight using Consumer Sentinel Network reports that showed steep increases in fraud losses tied to bitcoin ATMs, with estimates running through the first half of 2024. The FBI’s 2023 Cryptocurrency Fraud Report warned that no legitimate government official will ever demand payment through a cryptocurrency kiosk, a message the Georgia law now requires operators to display on-screen. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center released state-level complaint data for kiosk-related fraud, adding granularity to the national picture and underscoring that older adults and non-technical users are frequent targets.
At the federal regulatory level, FinCEN issued a formal notice flagging the use of convertible virtual currency kiosks for scam payments and other illicit activity, stressing Bank Secrecy Act obligations that many smaller operators have struggled to meet. Georgia’s own banking regulator has already demonstrated willingness to act. The Department of Banking and Finance issued a cease-and-desist order against Blockchain Technology Machines, Inc., operating as RocketBTM, for running kiosks without the required money-transmitter license. That order, detailed in the department’s final enforcement filing, became final on January 16, 2025, signaling that the state views unlicensed kiosk operation as an active enforcement priority.
In parallel, the department circulated regulatory guidance to clarify how existing money-transmitter and anti-money-laundering rules apply to virtual currency kiosks. That document outlines expectations for customer due diligence, suspicious activity monitoring, and consumer disclosures. HB 945 builds on that framework by converting some of those expectations into explicit statutory requirements and adding the new refund right for first-time users.
Gaps in enforcement and what Georgia consumers should watch next
Several questions remain open. The signed text of HB 945 establishes the refund right and the 72-hour window but does not guarantee that every victim will qualify. The protection applies to new customers, so repeat users who fall for a scam may not receive the same treatment. The law also presumes that consumers recognize the fraud quickly enough to report it; victims who are manipulated into waiting, or who feel embarrassed and delay coming forward, could fall outside the window.
Enforcement capacity is another unresolved issue. The Department of Banking and Finance can investigate complaints and take action against licensees, but the volume of kiosk-related fraud reports could rise once consumers learn that a refund is possible. If staffing and investigative resources do not keep pace, some cases may move slowly, leaving victims in limbo while operators and regulators sort out who bears the loss.
Consumers should pay close attention to how kiosks implement the new disclosure and verification rules as the 2026 effective date approaches. Machines will be required to display clearer warnings that government agencies and legitimate businesses do not demand payment in cryptocurrency, and they may prompt first-time users to confirm that they are not sending funds to satisfy a tax debt, bail demand, or tech-support fee. Those prompts are designed to interrupt high-pressure scam scripts, but their effectiveness will depend on whether operators treat them as meaningful safeguards or mere box-checking exercises.
For now, the core advice remains unchanged: anyone instructed to pay a bill, fee, or fine through a cryptocurrency kiosk should assume they are being targeted by a scam and stop the transaction. HB 945 gives new Georgia users a second chance if they act within 72 hours, but the safest outcome is still to avoid feeding cash into a machine on someone else’s instructions in the first place.
David M. Keller is a finance writer based in Columbus, Ohio, covering personal finance and consumer-focused economic topics. He earned his degree in journalism from Ohio University and began his career reporting on local business and economic trends for a regional media outlet. Since then, he has contributed to a variety of online publications, focusing on clear, practical coverage of topics such as cost of living, debt, and everyday financial decision-making.
