One of the greatest TV series of all time was the saga of Walter White called Breaking Bad. And one of its most memorable scenes came when a meth-addicted wife pushed a stolen ATM machine onto her meth-addicted husband’s head. (Shades of Mortal Kombat!) This bit of marital anger not only resulted in “instant divorce” but in the machine’s cash vault dropping open.
The show’s writers exercised a bit of poetic license here, but the story of ATM larceny isn’t poetic at all. Besides the more classic ways thieves have been getting at the cash, now comes blowing them up. If you google “exploding ATMs” you’ll find stories of bank kiosks and free-standing ATM’s being blown up by some gangs, including some real professionals overseas. Not only stories, but you’ll find some primitive instructions on how to do that online.
I remember a caption cartoon that showed a pretty, young girl sitting at a school room desk, chewing on a pencil and thinking (in the caption) “If you can bake a cake, you can build a bomb.” Kinda funny on the face of it until you realize two things: 1. Instructions on actually building a bomb have been available on the internet for many years, and 2. There are enough nut cases out there who would actually (and have) done exactly that.
I’m not faulting the internet exactly, but providing news looking like instructions to commit mayhem in this day and age is questionable (though I do support freedom of the press). I also remember stories shared by route operators back in my New York City days about junkies breaking into bars at night to get their hands on the cash in pool tables, jukeboxes and other machines. It got to the point where some operators asked the location folks to empty the machines before they locked up at night, trusting them to hand over the right amount to the operator on his next visit. Yes, that meant giving the keys to the locations to dump the money themselves.
It surprises me that independently owned ATMs, like those run by our readers, aren’t protected by federal law like their bank-owned brethren. But, there’s hope on the horizon – the Safe Access to Cash Act – which would bring the full weight of federal authority (e.g. the FBI) to bear on crimes against all ATMs. The National ATM Council is among those lobbying hard for its passage, and as you’ve read before, they stress the importance of contacting your lawmakers about it. (While you’re at it, also talk up the Payment Choice Act which, in short, requires businesses to take cash for onsite purchases (up to $500). Preserving the use of cash is of vital importance to the ATM business too!)
As they say, it’s better to light one candle than curse the darkness. Think about it. If you need the names and contact information for your lawmakers, Google is your friend.