Scammed Twice: Part 2 Who Profits When Victims Pay

In Part 1, I exposed how Bitcoin ATMs take 30-40% of scam victims' money through hidden markups. In Part 2, I investigate who's profiting from this system.

Meet Brandon Mintz—Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, CEO of Bitcoin Depot, operator of 8,000+ Bitcoin ATMs across North America. When confronted with evidence that 98% of his Iowa customers were scam victims, here's what he told a podcast host about who uses his machines.

I'm going to dismantle his claims, one by one. And I'm doing it from an actual horse pasture—because Brandon's serving us horseshit in silver bowls, and I'm going to prove it.

Then I'll show you what Bitcoin Depot really does when law enforcement tries to help scam victims: they sue to keep the money. 

So yes, this is my investigative journalism meeting my personal mission. And by the end, you'll understand exactly who profits when victims pay.

Transcript

Last week, I showed you my receipts — how Bitcoin Depot collected roughly 35 percent of my money while I was actively being scammed.

Today, we move from the transaction to the people behind the infrastructure.

Here’s the man behind the curtain.

His name is Brandon Mintz. His company, Bitcoin Depot, went public on NASDAQ in 2023. In 2024, he was named to Forbes 30 Under 30.

Today, he runs one of the largest cryptocurrency ATM networks in the United States and North America.

Brandon’s company alone operates over 8,000 Bitcoin ATMs. 

Some regulators are finally starting to pay attention — but in most states, including mine, there are still no limits, no refunds, and no protections.

In Iowa, the Attorney General investigated crypto ATM operators — including Bitcoin Depot — and found that the vast majority of reported losses, totaling millions of dollars, were linked to scams.

In response, companies like Bitcoin Depot have maintained that scam usage is not representative of their business.

I found an interview on the podcast called “Thinking Crypto”, that Brandon did back in 2023 with the host, Tony Edward.

I’m going to play a portion of that interview for you, so you can hear Brandon’s own words, as he explains who uses his machines.

But before we hear this, you should know something: In 2024, the Iowa Attorney General investigated Bitcoin Depot. They contacted the top 50 users in Iowa - representing over $2.4 million in transactions. Of the 34 who responded, every single one confirmed they had been scammed. 100%. Not one legitimate user.

Let me repeat: every. single. One. — was a scam.

Keep that in mind as you listen to this:

Here’s Tony with his setup question:

• A kind of weird question for you, and it’s something I’ve been thinking about for years and I’ve talked to quite a few folks about it, and that is, there are different demographics in the world, right? It goes without saying, there’s different people, different walks of life, who are familiar with different levels of technology and they trust different things, whether it be trust banks, they trust ATMs or they trust exchanges. So could you tell us a bit about the demographic that uses the Bitcoin ATMs and who are they, especially like in the United States? Are they like the older folks who are, “Hey, I know how to use an ATM, I can buy some Bitcoin on this.” Can you tell us a bit about that?

Brandon:

• Yeah, great question. So there’s really three different buckets I like to break it into. The first one being that cash economy bucket made up of people who just prefer to use cash. Sometimes they use it for certain transactions, sometimes they use a card for others, but also most importantly, people who are underbanked and unbanked, which is close to a quarter of the US population, actually a lot of people don’t realize that. And according to a few studies out there, those are the people who are using crypto the most. 

I’ve read studies that say, you know, people within that demographic have adopted crypto, owned crypto more than two times as likely as just the general population. 

And then the other buckets are really anyone who wants pure convenience, doesn’t mind paying a markup, goes to Travelex in the airport, buys drinks from convenience store versus having to go all the way to the grocery store, uses a cash ATM instead of going to the bank. You know, just normal convenience purchases in life. Maybe they got fed up with waiting on verification from the exchange, which exchanges still have a lot of problems getting people through even for small dollar amounts.

 And then lastly, as crypto has been adopted more and more, the Baby Boomer demographic has come into play as well. So you have people, who just aren’t that great with technology, they don’t want to try and figure out how to use an online exchange, and they want a familiar experience with something tangible that they can go see, touch, and feel that gives them a lot more comfort than just completing the transaction through the website. 

Especially with all the news that has come out the past year, a lot of people may feel you go to a website to buy Bitcoin, they could just disappear or say, “Hey, we’re not allowing withdrawals.” You go to a Bitcoin ATM you know, you’re getting your Bitcoin essentially instantly, there’s a lot less to worry about. So those are really the three buckets that make up our user base.

Well, there’s a sudden transition for you.  For those on audio, this just went from Brandon’s podcast to now watching this horse eat her lunch.

Let me explain what’s going on here.

Lily the horse lives in this nice pasture. And she has graciously allowed us to come here to illustrate to you, exactly what Brandon is trying to sell to everyone.  I just changed her name to protect her true identity.  

I'll just tell you right now, his explanation is horseshit. And that's why I've come to this horse pasture on a very cold January day.

I’ve got three silver buckets here, representing the three demographics that  Brandon calls "financial innovation."

But here in Lily's pasture, we call it what it is: horseshit, dressed up to disguise what's really underneath.

Oh, Look!  Lily left us some fresh raw materials to work with.  This is what I came here to find.

His “corporate speak” is designed to make exploitation sound like innovation.

But these horse butt nuggets, is what he’s really hiding underneath his finished product.

But let's say Brandon's right. Let's say there ARE unbanked people using his machines. Where are they?

Iowa's Attorney General wanted to know the same thing. So they investigated. They contacted the top 50 Bitcoin Depot users—over $2.4 million in transactions. And every single person who responded?

So, his first bucket: clients who prefer cash. He talks about the unbanked and underbanked or people who just prefer to use cash.

Brandon says 'close to a quarter of the US population' is unbanked or underbanked. —  Unbanked means they don't have a bank account, due to an income too low to maintain an account balance, or that they don’t trust banks.

Underbanked means they do have a bank account, but still may rely on payday loans or check-cashing services, rent to own, etc, and disproportionately affects minority households and those with disabilities. 

It sounds compassionate and inclusionary — And
regulators are reluctant to crack down on something that sounds like it helps low-income people.

But, according to the FDIC's 2023 survey, only 4.2% of U.S. households are unbanked and another 14.2% are underbanked - so these households in the US total about 18.4%, not 25%.

So this 'serving the unbanked' story? It's not just misleading - it's a lie. 

This bucket isn't full of underserved communities. It's full of scam victims he's pretending are legitimate customers."

And here's the kicker: that same FDIC survey shows these households primarily use cash, Venmo, PayPal, and CashApp - not Bitcoin ATMs charging 20-40% fees.

That's bucket number one: horseshit in a silver bucket. Looks good on top, doesn't it? But we all know what's underneath.

Brandon's second bucket: convenience seekers. People who don't mind paying a markup for speed and ease.

Let me tell you about the 'convenience' of using a Bitcoin ATM.

Remember the 6 steps I went through to use his machine? 

Download an app, drive to my bank for cash, drive to the ATM, feed bills one at a time, wait up to an hour, then use the internet to transfer the Bitcoin. 

That wasn't convenient—it was time-consuming and required internet access anyway, the very thing Brandon assumes Baby Boomers can't handle.

And for that 'convenience'? Look at what they charged me.

On one transaction, Bitcoin Depot took $383.
On another, they took $1,203.

That's not a 'convenience markup' like buying an overpriced Coke. That's predatory exploitation of people in crisis.

And here's what Brandon won't tell you: when he says people are 'fed up with exchange verification'—he means they're fed up with fraud prevention.

Legitimate exchanges like Coinbase verify your identity, flag suspicious activity, and can reverse transactions. They make it harder to get scammed.

Bitcoin ATMs don't do any of that. And that's not a bug—it's the business model.

That's bucket number two: another silver bowl. Same horseshit underneath. 

Brandon's third bucket: Baby Boomers who aren't comfortable with technology. He says they want something 'tangible they can see, touch, and feel.'

Here's the reality:

Brandon says Baby Boomers want 'a familiar experience with something tangible' - an ATM they can see, touch, and trust.

What he doesn't say? Two thirds of all Bitcoin ATM fraud losses come from people over 60. They're not making empowered choices about cryptocurrency investment. 

They're being systematically targeted through romance scams, government impersonation, grandparent scams, and tech support scams—all of which direct victims to Bitcoin ATMs specifically because:

Transactions are irreversible and the physical machine adds false legitimacy.

Remember the man from Part 1 who fed $20,000 into a Bitcoin ATM at that convenience store  - and then went home and took his own life? 

That's not a 'convenience purchase.' That's exploitation that led to a man's death.

And Brandon takes his 30-40% cut either way.

Bucket number three. Three silver buckets with. All the same horseshit underneath

So those are Brandon's three buckets. Three demographics. Three types of legitimate customers.

Except they're not legitimate customers. Because here's what happened when law enforcement tried to help an actual victim:"

Bitcoin Depot will remind you that 'Scams target every financial service. We have terms of service. Users promise to only send money to their own accounts. This isn't representative of our business.'

But here's what IS representative of their business:

In April 2025, a scam victim in Benton County, Arkansas lost their life savings to a fake jury duty scam, the sheriff's office seized $14,120 from a Bitcoin Depot ATM—money they believed belonged to the victim.

Bitcoin Depot sued to get that money back.

Not to examine whether fraud occurred. Not to help the victim. To keep the money.

And here's what they argued in their lawsuit—directly from the legal filing, and I quote:

'The seized funds are the property of Bitcoin Depot.'

'Bitcoin Depot is the innocent purchaser for the value of the $14,120.00 in U.S. currency.'

'As such, Bitcoin Depot has an ownership interest in the seized cash and is entitled to possession of the cash as a matter of law.’

Read that again: Bitcoin Depot calls THEMSELVES the 'innocent purchaser.'

Not the victim. Bitcoin Depot.

Because they gave the victim Bitcoin in exchange—Bitcoin that immediately went to a scammer—they claim the cash now belongs to them. Legally. Permanently.

That's the business model in black and white.

A scam victim loses $14,120. Bitcoin Depot takes their 25-35% cut—let's say $4,000. And when law enforcement tries to return what's left to the victim? 

Bitcoin Depot goes to court to keep ALL of it.

And this isn't an isolated case. So far they've done this in Iowa, Wisconsin, and Texas. Multiple times. Fighting in court to keep money that law enforcement seized SPECIFICIALLY to return to scam victims.

So when Brandon Mintz says scams 'aren't representative of our business'—

The court filings tell a different story.

Because if scam transactions weren't your business model, you wouldn't fight this hard to keep the money."

*Now here's what Brandon DIDN'T mention in that interview:

He didn't mention that state investigations show 98% of transactions are scams.

He didn't mention that elderly people lose their life savings at his machines every single day.

He didn't mention that his company sues law enforcement to keep scam victims' money.

And when confronted with all of this, Bitcoin Depot's response?

 'Scams target every financial service. This isn't representative of our business.'

Here's the counterpoint:

Banks stop suspicious transactions. 

Credit cards reverse fraudulent charges. Venmo flags unusual activity.

Bitcoin Depot does none of this—and they profit MORE when the fraud amount is higher.

That's not inability to stop fraud. 

That's incentive not to.

According to state investigations, up to 98% of reported transactions involving these machines were tied to scams.  

No legitimate business requires 98% criminal activity to survive.

At what point do we stop treating this as incidental misuse (Pause)

and start asking whether their business model depends on it?

Where's the protection? Where are the regulators?

A few places are finally taking action:

• Spokane, Washington banned crypto ATMs entirely in June 2025
• Maine capped fees at 3% and created daily transaction limits
• Nebraska and Iowa offer refund windows if you report quickly

But that's a handful of states out of fifty.

Most states have done nothing. Zero transaction limits. Zero refund requirements. Zero consumer protections.

And Bitcoin Depot knows it. That's why they keep installing machines everywhere until regulators wake up.

Brandon Mintz was applauded and featured in Forbes 30 Under 30 — while state investigations found that up to 98% of reported transactions involving his company’s machines were tied to scams.

He calls it financial innovation. He calls it serving the underbanked.

Courts call it lawful. Victims call it devastating. Bitcoin Depot calls it business.

I call it horseshit on a silver platter.

So here's the Number 1 rule again: If using a Bitcoin ATM wasn't 100% your idea from start to finish—you're being scammed. Walk away.

Next time, I'll be talking to a fellow victim. You'll hear her twist on the classic scam playbook.

This is The Romance Scam Rebellion. Thanks for listening.