If you wanted to take advantage of an ATM, you might equip it with a skimmer, a device which captures electronic information from people’s cards and uses it to siphon away money. Two thieves in Pennsylvania, however, decided to go another route and rip the whole damn machine out instead.
Image: New York Times
The New York Times reports that the masked — and, honestly, pretty ballsy — thieves used “a stolen dump truck, a long cable, and a chain” to do their bidding. The ATM reportedly had about $US14,000 ($18,913) inside when it was ripped from its cosy home inside a ShopRite vestibule in Covington Township on Tuesday morning local time.
Here’s surveillance footage from the Times of the dastardly stunt:
The truck, which was stolen from a local country club, was found later that day along with “part of the machine”. (Rest in peace, buddy.) As of Thursday, the cash was still missing, and the thieves were still on the loose.
Bernie Klocko, the police chief of Covington Township, told the Times that while the region had seen several ATM thefts a year or two ago, this one was different. “They were hitting the small machines that were inside restaurants or delis,” he said. “Something like this is a first for us.”
“I was shocked, amazed! I cannot believe it,” nearby resident Terri Beers told local news outlet WNEP. “I cannot believe right here this crap is happening.”
An FNCB ATM outside Bill’s ShopRite in Daleville was stolen. Police have surveillance and are trying to track down thieves @wnep pic.twitter.com/J1kwDDpvSw
— Stacy Lange (@stacylange) November 29, 2016
Well, that’s one way to get some cash. I, for one, look forward to the thieves’ next stunt.