In the German city of Ratingen, exploding money machines are a hot-button matter. Two acquired blown up early on the identical morning final month, at branches of Santander and Deutsche Bank throughout the road from one another near the Duesseldorf suburb’s primary sq..
A 12 months in the past, residents of the flats above Santander unsuccessfully sued to have the machines eliminated due to considerations they could possibly be raided – a gesture that may looking back be deemed prophetic in different international locations.
But in Germany, thieves are blowing ATMs up on the price of multiple a day.
Attacks are up over 40% since 2019, in line with the inside ministry, and investigators say two elements are driving the rise.
Europe’s largest economic system has 53,000 ATMs, a disproportionately excessive quantity that displays Germans’ desire for money relatively than financial institution playing cards. The nation additionally boasts an intensive community of highways, or Autobahns, on a lot of which no pace restrict is enforced.
Ratingen lies simply 70km (40 miles) from the Dutch border, and investigators say gangs from the Netherlands are the prime culprits for the assaults, which ship glass flying, inflicting constructing facades to crumble and cash cartridges to crack open.
Raiders acquired away with practically 20 million euros ($22.1 million) in 2021 when 392 ATM explosions have been recorded, a tally that rose to 496 in 2022. Police within the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the place Ratingen lies and which has borne the brunt of the assaults, has recorded 47 incidents up to now in 2023, up on final 12 months’s price.
Dutch raiders
Meanwhile, the frequency of ATM attackers is falling within the Netherlands, partly as a consequence of safety measures akin to glue that makes blocks of money inside ATMs unusable, Dutch police say.
So Dutch money machine raiders are crossing the border and, German police estimate, have carried out between 70% to 80% of assaults in Germany since 2018.
Dutch police suspect round 500 males are accountable, working in ever-evolving teams as new recruits substitute those that get caught. Prosecutors in Frankfurt this week charged six Dutch residents with inflicting explosions, theft and property harm.
Ratingen police are investigating a doable Dutch connection in final month’s twin raid too, having recognized a small car that sped from the scene to a close-by Autobahn.
On Thursday, practically a month after the assaults, Santander’s facade remained boarded up. Deutsche Bank’s signal was nonetheless broken, and an indication asking for purchasers’ understanding that ATMs have been out of order whereas underneath restore.
In Germany, roughly 60% of on a regular basis purchases are paid in money, in line with a Bundesbank examine that discovered Germans, on common, withdrew over 6,600 euros yearly mainly from money machines.
Germany can also be working with officers in Belgium and France and at Europol to fight the money machine crime wave. The accomplice authorities didn’t reply to requests for remark.
Noting that ATM raids endangered lives, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser this week urged banks to step up security measures for ATMs.
Both Santander and Deutsche stated they prioritized security and have been repeatedly bettering ATM safety, however banks inside Germany are reluctant to undertake blanket measures, as a substitute advocating a case-by-case strategy relying on particular person safety dangers.
A spokesperson for Deutsche Kreditwirtschaft, an umbrella foyer group for the nation’s monetary establishments, stated: “Different locations come with different risks. There is currently no one-size-fits-all solution.”
Source: www.dailysabah.com
