SA’s ATM attackers are ditching angle grinders for explosives

This article forms part of the archives of Business Insider South Africa, which was published as a partnership between News24 and Insider Inc between 2018 and 2023.

• The number of attacks on ATMs in South Africa jumped by 11% last year, with overall financial losses surging even further.
• Using explosives to access cash in the machines is still the most common method, representing 70% of all recorded attacks, and is growing.
• ATM attackers equipped with angle grinders, on the other hand, are becoming less common.
• This is despite angle grinder gangs having a higher success rate than bombers, and the amount of cash lost to this method rocketing by 130%.

Attacks on ATMs in South Africa are on the rise, and more criminals are moving away from angle grinders in favour of explosives, even though blowing a machine up has a far greater chance of ruining the money stored inside.

More than 360 ATM attacks were recorded in 2021, according to the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric), which represents an increase of 11% on the year prior. Overall losses incurred by these attacks also increased by 17%. Nearly a third of all ATM attacks occurred in Gauteng.

Most criminals targeting cash held in ATMs prefer using explosives over all other methods, with bombed machines accounting for almost 70% of all recorded attacks in 2021, up around 15% from the year before.

Criminals equipped with angle grinders are the second most common to be found breaking into ATMs to access cash, accounting for 13% of all attacks. But unlike explosives, angle grinders are becoming less popular, according to Sabric’s Annual Crime Stats 2021 report published on Monday.

“This is probably because using an angle grinder is time-consuming and requires a planned and coordinated approach,” noted the Sabric report, which recorded an 11% decrease in angle grinder attacks.

“Because grinding open an ATM requires a large group of perpetrators, time, and a coordinated approach, the perpetrators risk capture by rapid response teams after the alarm is activated or the signal is lost. The decrease in angle grinding incidents can be attributed to rapid response teams and effective monitoring of ATMs for signs of grinding in progress.”

Criminals opting for angle grinders usually target shopping centres said Sabric, where security guards are held hostage by the gang. Other perpetrators, disguised as security guards in full uniform, keep a lookout while the ATM is busted open with an angle grinder.

And while this approach is time-consuming and needs a higher degree of coordination and planning than bombing, criminals still using angle grinders to access ATMs are getting the bulk of the loot. Despite these types of attacks decreasing in number, overall losses to angle grinders have surged by 130% and represent half of all ATM losses while only accounting for 13% of incidents.

“In 56% of incidents [of angle grinder attacks], perpetrators were successful in accessing the cash inside the ATM, whether it was dye stained or not,” noted Sabric.

Using explosives to access cash, while it may be quicker and the most common method is not nearly as effective as criminals equipped with angle grinders.

“The success rate to access the cash in ATM explosives incidents reported by Sabric members was 32%,” noted Sabric, adding that banks using dye-stain technology, which ruins the cash when tampered with, saw a decrease in financial losses of 9%.

“However, in certain instances, perpetrators still took the cash, even though the dye-stain kit had been activated and had marked the money.”

Source: https://www.news24.com/news24/bi-archive/atm-attacks-in-south-africa-with-angle-grinders-2022-10