Hackers who steal money from corporate banks often use so-called "money mules," people willing or tricked into withdrawing funds in cash and wiring the money to the bad guys, but according to Krebs on Security, the mules are increasingly being told to remit the money through bitcoin ATMs.

According to Krebs on Security, a recent Canadian reader said she took a job as a customer service officer for LunarBay, a company that claimed to be a software development firm. The reader was told they needed to hire people to process payments for its clients. The reader was offered a salary of $870 a week plus a 5 percent commission on each transaction she handled, but after providing her bank account information, she got suspicious when she got instructions on how to forward funds on LunarBay. “The scammers told her to withdraw the money from her account by going into the bank itself — not from the ATM (mainly due to daily withdrawal limits at the ATM). They also sent her a QR code (pictured below) that she was instructed to save as an image on her smartphone. The crooks then proceeded to tell her the location of the nearest Bitcoin ATM,” reported Krebs on Security. The report noted that, since bitcoin can’t be refunded once the money is sent, the transaction is a done deal.

“It’s not immediately clear why these thieves are avoiding tried-and-true methods of disbursing cash — like Western Union and MoneyGram — in favor of Bitcoin ATMs,” wrote Brian Krebs in the blog post. “I suppose it’s possible that the wire transfer companies are getting better at detecting and blocking suspicious transactions, but I doubt that’s the reason. More likely, sending cash via bitcoin results in a more immediate payday for the scammers and avoids the costs and hassle associated with hiring ‘far-end’ mules to collect fraudulent wire transfers in the scammer’s home country.”