Outdoor ATMs Require Crash Protection
Chase Bank ATM Stolen and Cleaned Out in
Record Time
In May 2008, I published an article titled “Bank
Robbery Made Easy”. There, I described a new type of
bank robbery that had recently burst upon the scene. Gone
were the days of blowing up the safe with dynamite and then
getting away on horseback. The new technique involved
breaking into the ATM room, behind the scenes. Rather than
targeting an old-fashioned brick and mortar bank, the
robbers began looking look for bank branches built within
retail strip centers. After cutting through the roof of an
adjacent storefront, the robbers could penetrate the
demising wall between the suites and gain access to the ATM
room. Once inside, the robbers would disable any security
cameras and then go to work.
Work,
in this case, meant cutting through the steel doors that
armor the back of most ATMs. After strategically cutting
through the armor, the robbers could remove several
cassettes, which may collectively hold up to $125,000 in
untraceable twenty-dollar bills. After loading the bills
into bags, the robbers could retrace their steps and exit
the building through the roof of the adjacent business.For the cutting of steel, an old-fashioned kerosene blowtorch or even an acetylene cutting-torch will not suffice. The armor is too thick and the temperatures generated thereby are too low for adequate cutting. What, aspiring bank robbers ask, should they do to rectify that issue? Never fear, dear bank robbers, because you have unlimited access to the Magnum USA “Sea and Land” or “Blackhawk” labeled cutting torches. As stated in the Magnum USA website, “Consider the advantages in deploying a hand held "particle accelerator in a tube"™ to gain advantage over project initiatives. Operation is uncharacteristically quiet and it cuts like a master of improvisation. Sublimation is the key and our burning process, as it converts metal to a liquid state…”
As
we said in our 2008 article, the (older model) MAG 9000
cutting torch “cuts through an ATM like butter”. Better yet,
the unit is Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA)
approved. In other words, an agency of the federal
government officially approves of these tools. It is sad
that the Secret Service has not noticed the threat to U.S.
currency. The Department of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms
(ATF) is too busy cleaning up its gunrunning business to
Mexico to focus on this threat. The
new model MAG 9003, with 24-volt ignition creates a
white-hot flame, yet it is not a firearm. MAG 9003 owners
receive no protection under the
Second Amendment to the
Constitution, which guarantees a well organized
militia the right to bear arms. This device is a bank
robber’s dream coming true; an unlicensed, self-contained
system that can cut steel plate wherever and whenever
necessary.On Friday December 23, 2011, thieves made a coordinated attack on an ATM at a Chase Bank branch in Laguna Hills, California. Using the cable-winch on a stolen flatbed tow truck, they attempted to wrench the ATM from its moorings. When the cable parted, they went to Plan-B, which consisted of ramming the ATM with the truck. Once they had freed the ATM, they pulled it up on to the flatbed and drove away.
According
to a
KABC-TV Los Angeles report, the thieves than drove to a
location in nearby Lake Forest, where they “Used a blowtorch
to open the machine and remove the cash…” From there, the
perpetrators stole another truck and disappeared. As of this
writing, the ATM robbers are still on the loose. If you see
someone with five thousand twenty dollar bills in their
possession, it might be our robbers, so please keep an eye
out for them.In our previous article, we had some suggestions for the banking community. As we said then, every bank should quickly:
1. Add armor plating to all ATM rooms that share walls with neighboring businesses.
2. Add motion detection, smoke alarms and high-decibel horn alarms to all ATM rooms, thus making any break-in immediately obvious to the bank’s security department and painful to the robbers’ ears.
3. Add an additional armor to the identified weak points on all ATMs.
4. Require handgun type registration when purchasing a high-tech cutting torch (e.g., The MAG 9003).
To
our original list, we now add one more suggestion. In front
of each exposed ATM, install crash barriers capable of
stopping a
Mack Truck. Even in the Old West, banks utilized
concrete and steel to armor their vaults. With the advent of
storefront ATMs and a new class of cutting torch “firearms”,
we need crash barriers sufficient to protect both our bank
deposits and anyone standing in front of an ATM. If the
banking industry does not get serious about ATM security, we
predict a future filled with "snatch and cut" ATM robberies.
Protecting ATMs from theft is not brain surgery. It is more
like "Banking 101".