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The Almighty Buck Crime EU

Europe's Crooks Keep Blowing up ATMs (cnn.com) 64

Posted by EditorDavid from the where-the-money-is dept.
"In the early hours of Thursday, March 23, 2023, residents in the German town of Kronberg were woken from their sleep by several explosions," reports CNN .

"Criminals had blown up an ATM located below a block of flats in the town center..." According to local media reports, witnesses saw people dressed in dark clothing fleeing in a black car towards a nearby highway. During the heist, thieves stole 130,000 euros in cash. They also caused an estimated half a million euros worth of collateral damage, according to a report by Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office, BKA.

Rather than staging dramatic and risky bank robberies, criminal groups in Europe have been targeting ATMs as an easier and more low-key target. In Germany — Europe's largest economy — thieves have been blowing up ATMs at a rate of more than one per day in recent years. In a country where cash is still a prevalent payment method, the thefts can prove incredibly lucrative, with criminals pocketing hundreds of thousands of euros in one attack.

Europol has been cracking down on the robberies, carrying out large cross-border operations aimed at taking down the highly-organized criminal gangs behind them. Earlier this month, authorities from Germany, France and the Netherlands arrested three members of a criminal network who have been carrying out attacks on cash machines using explosives, Europol said in a statement. Since 2022, the detainees are believed to have looted millions of euros and run up a similar amount in property damage, from 2022 to 2024, Europol said...

Unlike its European neighbors, who largely transitioned away from cash payments due to the Covid-19 pandemic, cash still plays a significant role in Germany. One half of all transactions in 2023 were made using banknotes and coins, according to Bundesbank. Germans have a cultural attachment to cash, traditionally viewing it as a safe method of payment. Some say it allows a greater level of privacy, and gives them more control over their expenses.

Europe's Crooks Keep Blowing up ATMs More | Reply

Europe's Crooks Keep Blowing up ATMs

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  • Wait, what? (Score:3)

    by Baron_Yam ( 643147 ) on Sunday October 27, 2024 @03:14PM (#64898031)

    Hundreds of thousands of euros per ATM?

    Well... just looked it up and yep, the full-size machines might average 500k in them. That's 10 years of average income in Germany, and "blow open the ATM and grab the cash cartridges" sounds like something a single criminal with some explosives skill could handle.

    Having learned that, I'm not surprised they get blown open, but I'm surprised it's one per day. You blow one up, you're set for a decade with no further risk. There must be a lot of criminals in the 'blow up an ATM' game or they must be pretty damn greedy and enjoy risk.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by PPH ( 736903 )

      You blow one up, you're set for a decade with no further risk.

      That's not how organized crime works. The people doing the work get their cut. But the people at the top of the criminal organization need a lot of cash flow to support their lifestyle.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by MrKaos ( 858439 )

        You blow one up, you're set for a decade with no further risk.

        That's not how organized crime works. The people doing the work get their cut.

        Like the fees on credit cards are the bank's cut from not using cash.

    • Re: Wait, what? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by sodul ( 833177 ) on Sunday October 27, 2024 @03:58PM (#64898097) Homepage

      500k euros might help you for a few years but a decade? That's living with 50k a year for 10y. While it is true that many folks (most?) make less than 50k per year in Europe I would not call that the high life. I would expect the criminals to do this at least once a year to life a very comfortable life.

      One problem with criminal money is that it is then more difficult to invest into legit businesses so you can live off your, now, legal assets, which mean you are in a loop to get more stolen cash.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Kisai ( 213879 )

      It has a pretty obvious solution. Stop having so many ATM's.

      In the US and Canada bank ATM's are usually attached to the Bank or a convenience store (Eg 7-11) you can't rip them out of the building because they're usually fixed to the concrete walls. You'd have to do a lot of property damage just to get to the ATM.

      Third party ATM's (not owned by banks or credit unions) are usually temporary and not mounted to walls, they're free standing, and if someone wanted to steal one, a truck and a chain would probably

      • Third party ATM's (not owned by banks or credit unions) are usually temporary and not mounted to walls

        It's almost like they were made to be yanked out and dragged away, although they have a lot less cash in them, usually only around $5k or so. Worth it for some people perhaps but seems like a losing bet to me.

        And you're right about US bank ATMs; in the US you'd have to blow out half of the building to get to the ATM cash boxes and whatnot.

        • Nowadays, in the US there's typically not a lot of need to use an ATM and pay the banks' ridiculous fees - if you want cash, you can ask for it when you're checking out at the grocery store.

          Even the self-checkout stations ask if you want cash back.

      • Re:Wait, what? (Score:4, Informative)

        by Z00L00K ( 682162 ) on Sunday October 27, 2024 @05:05PM (#64898213) Homepage Journal

        Around where I live blowing up ATMs was something that happened 30 years ago.

        Today there are few left and basically everywhere you pay with a card.

        In addition to that - the ATMs were pretty quickly equipped with ink cartridges making the cash in the machine unusable.

      • The problem is, just like houses in the US, ATMs in Europe have changed from a way for banks to have accessible money for clients to a huge money maker for third parties, especially off of tourists. EuroNet has dug in deep to the point of large permanent ATMs with hundreds of thousands of dollars in them. They charge upwards of 30% when they detect a non European card. https://travellingclaus.com/no... [travellingclaus.com] I, for one, highly appreciate anyone willing to blow one of these up.

        • Then go to a normal bank and not a "travel bank" ATM with a brand sign from your home country.
          You want to tell me if I take 1k EURO I have to pay 300RURO in fee? That is most likely not even legal.

          • The only reason it's "legal" and accepted, is it detects if it's a local card or foreign and the fees only kick in if it's from another region.

    • Re:Wait, what? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by _merlin ( 160982 ) on Sunday October 27, 2024 @04:49PM (#64898191) Homepage Journal

      There were a spate of these in Australia around 2008 or 2009. They didn't use explosives like C4 etc., they used a propane cylinder with a hose to get the gas into the ATM. I don't know why they stopped, but you rarely hear about them any more. Maybe the crooks all moved to Germany.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by Z00L00K ( 682162 )

        Probably because the ATMs were equipped with ink cartridges invalidating the money.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by _merlin ( 160982 )

          The "ATM bomb bandits" seem to be able to work around those. They target ATMs where an explosion inside the ATM doesn't cause the dye pack to ruin the banknotes. I don't think all the ATMs in question were upgraded that quickly in Australia, and evidently they're still widespread in Germany.

    • It is only a small subset of ATMs that can be "harvested" by being blown up.
      The majourity has the cash stored one or two stories below the ground.

      And I guess only those are the ones that indeed have such a huge amount of money in them.

  • So they don't have these packs in German ATM's??

    Kinda stupid if you ask me, I guess they skimped on security features because it costs a bit of extra money.

    • On the assumption you meant "dye packs" then... seems like a good idea.

      Mount a dye pack next to your cash cartridges, set to go off if it experiences a shock above a certain level (like, say, an explosive charge strong enough to pop the machine open).

    • they have dye packs (but not glue packs since they are illegal in Germany), so these criminals looks to have found some way around the dye packs.

    • Some years ago this was happening in my place. The gang selected the ATMs based on brand and model. Either the older models that don't have the dye, or a model where the dye pack is somehow disabled by the explosion rather than triggered. They were using propane gas, which explodes from inside the machine. I guess this is part of the mechanism of how/why it works to disable the dye system on some models.

      Probably it fails most of the time (otherwise they would make 1 big heist and enjoy the money for some ye

    • Most ATMs in germany are by scammers such as Euronet. I am not entirely sure a criminal enterprise like that would care to prevent crime by destroying money.

      • Sorry but that's not even close to true. Euronet in all of Europe has less ATMs than Sparkassen alone has in Germany, and there are other banks in Germany as well. I'm guessing you've only been a tourist in Germany? If that's the case you may only see Euronet since they put them at all tourist traps (e.g. the only ATMs you find on the Wiessen in Munich during Oktoberfest is Euronet, and you may not even know that you need to go *into* most banks to use an ATM - and they are in abundance (including directly

  • Right across the street from where she often gets lunch. She says there were lots of police there, guys in hazmat suits, and that the area had been cordoned off. Explosion happened in the middle of the night. Not sure if they eventually apprehended the culprits. I wonder if the culprits were native Germans or migrants.

    • Odds are they were very temporary migrants from the Netherlands.

    • I wonder if they prefer their currywurst with fries or spaghetti.

    • I wonder if the culprits were native Germans or migrants

      From the article:

      Often based in the Netherlands,

      Two of the three criminals were caught at a rest stop, but the 30-year-old Dutch driver escaped and continued to drive against the traffic at speeds of up to 200 kilometers per hour, until colliding head-on with a van.

      has also led Dutch criminals to look further afield, according to Reuters, citing Dutch police.

      Or, as Michael Caine once said [azquotes.com].

  • As clever as some of German ingenuity is, that they havnt found a way to deter theft by employing countermeasures to make the currency worthless with dye from machine tampering, serial numbers on the currency, and more electronic surveilance in and around these machines. Sounds like the theives might have some knowledge on the inner workings of these machines and/or specialty in explosives ordinance pointing to ex-military or law enforcement.

    • Re:Surprised (Score:5, Interesting)

      by F.Ultra ( 1673484 ) on Sunday October 27, 2024 @03:38PM (#64898063)
      They have all of that in the German ATM:s so these criminals have found some way around them. The single thing the German ATM:s are lacking are the glue system that destroys cash when the machine detects tampering and this is missing due to it being illegal in Germany to destroy currency.

      • They have all of that in the German ATM:s so these criminals have found some way around them. The single thing the German ATM:s are lacking are the glue system that destroys cash when the machine detects tampering and this is missing due to it being illegal in Germany to destroy currency.

        The single thing that Germans are lacking, is a justified exception to the destruction of currency.

        It would be peanuts for one of their Mints/Reserves to replace the physical currency taken in this manner by supporting already existing and effective technology (glue or dye packs). The ATM companies could partner with banks/Mints/Reserves and offer insurance policies that would enable the insuring and replacement of both the ATM and the cash contents.

        • they have dye packs, it is the glue ones that are illegal in Germany. Don't have insight enough into German legislation to determine if your workaround is a real workaround or not.

    • Unfortunately most of the ATMs in germany are run and owned by an American ATM scammer called Euronet. They want them as cheap as possible, so they can rip off as many tourists as possible (that is how they get to stick around, by only scamming tourists),

      • That is wrong. Every single bank brand has more ATMs than Euronet.
        Only idiots would use a tourist trap ATM. We all have bank cards from our bank, and many banks team together and have their "cash pools", so going to another ATM costs nothing.

    • In that case maybe they prefer them targeting the machines rather than the main vault or transport.

  • Couldn't agree more. (Score:3)

    by lsllll ( 830002 ) on Sunday October 27, 2024 @03:30PM (#64898053)

    Some say it allows a greater level of privacy, and gives them more control over their expenses.

    Both of those are very valid points. Minus phone geopositioning and face recognition cameras, I can be pretty sure that when I buy my porn with cash, nobody will know it was me. And the controlling of expenses is effective for most people, especially if you've been brought up that way. I used to trade the gift cards my kids received for birthday 80 cents on the dollar with cash for 2 reasons: it game them the freedom of use the cash at any location instead of being tied into a specific company's gift card and also it taught them the that money wasn't finite and when the papers and coins they had in their pocket was gone, it was gone. With papers and coins in their pocket, they could better gauge their future spending opportunities.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Too true.

      Financial wizards like Dave Ramsey sprook cutting up all your cards (not just credit cards, but also debit cards) as a first step to getting your money under control. This makes use of the psychological effects of spending: spending with cards is just numbers on a screen, but spending with cash make you stop and think, "Do I actually need this? Is it actually worth the money I'm handing over?"

  • those were probably designed by Israel

    (lol because they explode lmao, get it?)

  • It's getting fixed already ... (Score:3)

    by Pinky's Brain ( 1158667 ) on Sunday October 27, 2024 @04:49PM (#64898193)

    In my country it was the central bank which stopped technical solutions (blowing pain/glue through the money drawer) for a long time before someone with authority said "we're not listening to you any more" and it finally got fixed.

    Something similar is now happening in German, they are using glue.

    • priceless that the solution is destroying the goods so they can't be stolen, then just replace the whole installation and fill it up again. when sustaining losses of over half a million daily is just a slight bump in operating costs, a nuisance, you're really at the top of the crook chain. ofc the "authorities" of three countries will work for you, no question.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by mbunch ( 1594095 )
        It's cash, not goods. I think if you're an ATM operator the central bank will simply take the dyed banknotes and give you freshly printed ones for a small fee.

  • full of people with multiple forms of paranoia: card or electronic payments will make the deep state know how much milk they bought, vaccines are dangerous and mRNA vaccines are meant to put microchips into their blood, the sky is being sprayed with chemicals, and to protect themselves from all those evils they vote for the fascists again.
    Pretty awful to be there among all those complete and utter dimwits.

  • I mean it's already illegal to steal an ATM and the money within.

    It's already illegal to manufacture, possess and use explosive devices.

    What's the plan here ?

    Add another law that these people are going to ignore ?

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