A San Francisco woman, Lois Powell, has been scammed out of $50,000 in a brazen Coinstar and Coinme scam, but thanks to the efforts of ABC7 Investigative Reporter Melanie Woodrow, she's now received her money back. The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) fined crypto kiosk operator Coinme $300,000, with over half that amount going towards reimbursement for Powell.
Powell, whose mother was convinced by a scammer to feed large sums into a Coinstar machine, had stood at the machine for hours, pouring in $100 bill after $100 bill. She said the story caught her attention when ABC7 Investigative Reporter Melanie Woodrow reported on it last year, and now she's grateful for their help.
The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation found that Coinme had violated transaction limits and failed to include required disclosures on customer receipts. DFPI took enforcement action, including fines totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars, as a warning to companies breaking the law.
According to Robert Herrell, executive director of the Consumer Federation of California, the Digital Financial Assets Law sends an important signal that breaking this law in California is not acceptable and will have repercussions.
In this case, Powell's story was a game-changer for Coinme, leading to their enforcement action. The DFPI spokesperson says they took this recent enforcement action because they do not like to see companies breaking the law and putting consumers' hard-earned money at risk.
Powell, whose mother was convinced by a scammer to feed large sums into a Coinstar machine, had stood at the machine for hours, pouring in $100 bill after $100 bill. She said the story caught her attention when ABC7 Investigative Reporter Melanie Woodrow reported on it last year, and now she's grateful for their help.
The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation found that Coinme had violated transaction limits and failed to include required disclosures on customer receipts. DFPI took enforcement action, including fines totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars, as a warning to companies breaking the law.
According to Robert Herrell, executive director of the Consumer Federation of California, the Digital Financial Assets Law sends an important signal that breaking this law in California is not acceptable and will have repercussions.
In this case, Powell's story was a game-changer for Coinme, leading to their enforcement action. The DFPI spokesperson says they took this recent enforcement action because they do not like to see companies breaking the law and putting consumers' hard-earned money at risk.
she was scammed out of like half her paycheck and had to stand there for hours pouring in that money lol what if it got stuck or something? anyway idk how those crypto kiosks even work, but its wild that they were able to get away with it for so long i guess now they'll have to pay the price though $300k is a lot of $$ 
i hope lois is doing okay after this ordeal and yeah abc7 investigative reporter melanie woodrow is literally a hero 
. Remember when you had to literally pour your coins into these machines and hope for the best? 
It's crazy how far technology has come, but it's great that they're still holding people accountable for their mistakes. $300k fine is no joke 
. Anyway, glad Lois got her money back and Coinme learned its lesson 
. Those investigative journalists are like superheroes, saving people from scams 
!
. This Coinstar and Coinme scam is just crazy... like, who does that? 
The fact that they had to pay $300,000 in fines is a big deal too 
. Consumers have rights too, you know? 
... remember when we used to just put our coins in a jar? 
Now we gotta deal with scammers and fancy machines that can take our cash 
. I just wish they'd invented these Coinstar machines back in my day 
... no way we'd be falling for scams like that! 
. It's just frustrating when companies think they can get away with exploiting people 
I'm also happy the ABC7 Investigative Reporter did some serious digging and brought attention to this issue.