heard this weekend on the radio that some criminals had tried to blow up an ATM machine...
Gee, these criminals have become increasingly "creatively dumb" hey? What next? Whats the most absurd attempt you've ever heard of...?
2007-03-04 21:33:28 · 4 answers · asked by Reb Da Rebel 6 in Travel ➔ Africa & Middle East ➔ South Africa
I actually know a lot on this issue. Right after completing my language degree at Stellenbosch University, I got a job at the then Volkskas Bank in Centurion. It later became ABSA.
I used to teach basic communication skills (Afrikaans lingo to predominantly English speakers and the opposite) and good bank etiquette to banktellers. The Cash Centre was in Pretoria and I did some training sessions there as well.
I have heard all kinds of stunts these guys tried to pull. Once at the ATM near UP, robbers walked away with an ATM that was about to be loaded with cash. If they had waited a while longer, they would have had R 300 000 instead of R 7000 that was left in the register! I have also seen videos of guys tampering with the machines. There is a video camera installed and apart from the video, it also got the voice clips of the robbers! Some video recordings even show "potential robbers" calling the police to tell them they've been robbed when the video clearly shows them laughing and joking about pulling the prank right in front of the ATM!
The worst I've seen was in Centurion when Volkskas bank got robbed when I was still in it. Yep! I was teaching a guy basic teller functions on the computer when five guys robbed the bank. Another guy was the lookout and kept counting off the seconds while the others robbed the tellers. Back then the bank didn't have bullet-proof glass and you could easily jump over the counters. And back then the army was there within seconds and we all were questioned and given psychiatric evaluations. This happened a year later again and it was only then that the bank got glass between tellers and customers.
With the second robbery at Volkskas Bank Centurion, shots were fired. But nobody got hurt, because the shots were fired at the revolving doors that wouldn't let the robbers out once they were inside. Mind you, many people were traumatized by the whole experience.
The dumbest act of ATM robberies I've seen was one of ABSA's own ATM custodians trying to rob the ATM he was assigned to. The guy, and I can still remember his name, logged out R 500 000 and put R 300 000 in the machine. He took the rest home. When he was questioned on the ATM being short of R 200 000, he replied that it must have been stolen or a mistake by the machine. He then bought a pack of cigarettes at the Cash Centre's tuck shop with one of the bills registered to that ATM! (Now for some of you that dunno this, half of the money that goes into the ATM's are numbered and registered at the bank. And this guy took the ones that were!)
2007-03-05 01:55:29 · answer #1 · answered by Porgie 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
This may be just a rumour but I have heard that some criminals take a dump or p!ss on the atm to get it to malfunction.
2007-03-05 11:14:55 · answer #2 · answered by Sunflower Girl 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I am living in Malta just now, some one here, stole a digger and used it to get the ATM out of the wall, they succeeded, but still couldn't get the money out of the machine.
2007-03-05 05:37:12 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Chalk another bit of ingenuity up to Mandela's school of making the country ungovernable.
Did these Einsteins ever stop to consider that they could've blown all the money up, too?
2007-03-05 05:39:23 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 4⤋