Bank / Credit Union
Excuse me sir, but you have an ATM attached to your truck
An alarming amount of ATMs have been physically stolen from various locations across the country. What can the industry do to thwart these thefts?
August 7, 2020 by Pat Shea — Editor, NetworldMedia
We all know ATMs lets us easily withdraw cash at our convenience and allows us to pay bills and transfer funds, check balances, and so many other monetary-related tasks.
And it seems, they're proving alluring to thieves as they are to customers. Logic would have us think it's the cash thieves want, but in the past six months there seems to be more attempts at stealing not just money, but the entire machine.
As editor for this publication, I see stories from across the country and around the world about ATM theft. It simply boggles the mind to imagine thieves are not only planning to steal an ATM, but in some cases, actually get away with it.
An ATM, as we all know, is not easy steal. It requires a lot of elbow grease to move it, and preplanning for carting it away.
In a small town in Illinois recently, an ATM containing approximately $8,000 was stolen from a tobacco shop in the early hours of the morning according to a report in The Register. The shop's front window was broken and when the police reviewed surveillance footage, it revealed the initial theft was handled by one man who knocked the ATM over and waited for a second man to drive up in a truck. Together, the duo lifted the machine into a van and took off.
In Texas, police stopped an attempt to steal an ATM as reported by The Forsythe News. The police came up on the suspects and watched them as they attached a heavy chain around the standalone ATM, and attempted to rip it out if its concrete base and drag it across the parking lot. The police apprehended them before they had the chance to leave.
And it's not just happening in the U.S. In New Zealand, thieves attempted to steal an ATM by tossing pipe bombs at it as reported by the Star Tribune. In India, a thief unsuccessfully tried to rob an ATM and then damaged the cash tray, as reported by the Outlook.
This is just a sampling of thefts that have occurred lately, and it seems everything from pipe bombs to axes to chains are being used to steal these machines. It does beg the question: what can be done?
How can these machines, and ultimately the cash within, become less of an attraction to thieves? What ways can we assure owners, operators and manufacturers within this industry they can feel secure in knowing the ATM they own or installed or just filled won't suddenly disappear in the night?
Think about a solution, a product or a complete concept and drop me an email or post it on social media. If you or your company have already been working on a solution, let me know. I'd love to share your ideas with our readers.
Hopefully ATM robberies of both cash and the machines will soon be on the downswing. Or maybe the police will encounter more thieves like the ones apprehended in Louisiana. Police arrested four people for stealing an ATM as reported by 7KPLC News. A witness, who lives next to the bank, told police she saw a four-door Chevrolet pickup truck crash into the fence at the bank. Attached to the front of the truck was an ATM machine.
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