Cryptocurrency ATMs banned in Haverhill after scammers steal $20,000. Here's one victim's story.

The city of Haverhill, Massachusetts is banning all cryptocurrency automated teller machines (ATMs). That's after three people were scammed out of a total of $20,000, according to the Essex District Attorney's Office. They said the machines are basically only used for scams.

Mary Mbugua is one of the three victims.  She's undergoing cancer treatment and nearly lost $5,500 in a phone scam. She came to the U.S. from Kenya 22 years ago. Scammers messaged her saying she needed to make a payment on an order she made, but she didn't place the order. When she called a contact number from the message, their story got darker.

"He said according to our system, we can see you are doing marijuana and drugs and have been doing it in Kenya and in the U.S.," said Mbugua. "I told him I have never done drugs, nor do I know what they look like."

The man on the other line told her she would be arrested. He urged her to remove money from her accounts before police get to her.

"I told them according to doctor's orders, I can't drive the car because I am sick," said Mbugua. She is currently battling breast cancer, but the caller didn't care.

"I came outside and got into my car shaking and even crying. He was talking, talking, talking, and didn't give me a second," explained Mbugua.

He directed her to a bank in Lawrence and demanded she take out the cash and bring it to a specific government location.

"I told him I almost got into an accident, he said 'You need to drive fast!' Oh my God!" she said.

She took out $5,500, and went to the address he gave, but to her confusion it was a convenience store. She said six men sat outside watching her while they were on their phones. She was terrified, so she followed the caller's instructions to go to a cryptocurrency ATM in the back of the store.

"Those guys followed me. There are some seats at the back, next to the back by the bitcoin machine. They sat over there," said Mbugua.

She said one man sat right next to her. As she asked him to move aside, she dropped her cash. She said the men glared at her from the corner of their eyes. She deposited the money but refused to provide the man the receipt number from the slip. Mbugua said they continued to call and threaten her for days. They demanded the receipt number and told her they had all of her personal information.

She went to the Haverhill Police to tell them her story.  When they later called her back, she didn't believe it was law enforcement.

"I told him, 'No, I can't talk to you.' I am scared because I thought it's another scammer," said Mbugua.

Police met Mbugua and her son at her home. Detectives began looking into her case and miraculously were able to recover all of her stolen money. Haverhill Police Detective Blake Harris went before the City Council to ask them to ban the ATMs.

"Most legitimate cryptocurrency users don't rely on these machines at all," Harris told the council.

After hearing Mbugua's testimony, the council approved the request unanimously. 

The Massachusetts branch of the AARP is now calling for a statewide ban on these ATMs. 

WBZ-TV went back to the store Mbugua went to Wednesday, and the kiosk was gone. At a nearby store down the street, a kiosk had a warning on it from Haverhill Police alerting users of scammers.