ATMs continue to be heavily targeted by criminals
Published: Monday, Jul 29th 2024, 12:20
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With explosives, gas or simply with a rope: in recent months, Swiss ATMs, particularly in the Jura Arc, have once again become an increasing target for criminal gangs. This is forcing banks to reassess the benefits of ATMs against the risks.
Criminals have already plundered ATMs 24 times in Switzerland since the beginning of the year. According to the Federal Office of Police (Fedpol), the incidents have since decreased. However, in the first half of 2024 alone, the number of incidents rose again to three quarters of all robberies committed in 2023.
"There are four main criminal networks that are active in Switzerland: Dutch nationals, mainly of Moroccan origin, Romanians, Serbs or those from Albanian-speaking countries," a spokeswoman for the Federal Department of Justice and Police (FDJP) told the news agency AWP.
The methods are varied: explosives and gas are used as well as burglary or electrical manipulation of ATMs. Sometimes a rope is enough to tear the ATMs out of their anchoring with a vehicle.
The police are working together with the banks and ATM manufacturers. "We are sensitizing the banks through prevention measures such as isolated ATMs, reducing the amount of money per machine or the use of ink," said the spokeswoman. On request, the banks did not want to say how high the average loot is and how much money is spent on prevention.
Urged to close
"The determination of organized gangs seems to know no bounds," regrets the Neuchâtel Cantonal Bank. The bank assures that the machines are constantly being updated to meet the latest security standards.
For the Cantonal Bank of Jura, maintaining the operation of certain ATMs and branches is no longer justifiable. In view of the increasing number of robberies at branches and ATMs as well as the low number of transactions at the counter, it feels compelled to close down operations at some locations soon, as a spokeswoman said.
A trend that can also be observed in neighboring countries such as France, where around 8,500 ATMs have been removed since 2018. According to a report published by the French central bank Banque de France in July, the number of ATMs removed from service is set to rise to a total of 44,123 by the end of 2023.
Shared network
In order to ensure that the population still has access to cash, certain financial service providers in Switzerland are pursuing a joint strategy. The operator of the Swiss stock exchange SIX, for example, wants to merge the management of ATMs with Swiss Post and its financial subsidiary Postfinance.
One idea is to combine counter services, as a spokesperson explained to AWP. He put the number of self-service machines at 770, plus 280 MyPost24 machines and 1,200 post office branches operated with partners. This means that many more customers no longer have to worry about where the nearest ATM of their bank is located, but can simply go to the nearest ATM.
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