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.
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…”
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.
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).