STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. – When people started showing up to gas stations and party stores in Sterling Heights to drop thousands of dollars into machines that looked just like ATMs, police knew something had to change.

Scammers used crypto kiosks as a one-way door for other people’s money.

“Kind of came up on our radar,” said Dale Dwojakowski, Sterling Heights assistant city manager. “The police started reporting large frauds and people being scammed out of a lot of money using these kiosks, and I think it caught everybody off guard about how fast these kiosks started proliferating around the state.”

The latest city to act

Sterling Heights is the most recent city to combat crypto kiosk fraud and at least three cities in Michigan…