Criminals Are Blowing up ATMs in Germany - Source: www.schneier.com

Comments

Uwe • October 28, 2024 12:37 PM

the amount of money or the number of ATMs certainly isn’t the reason Germany is the main target. the Criminals targeted the Netherlands before, but laws forced the banks to implement security measures(one example: when an explosion is detected all bills are glued together with a small “glue explosion” inside the safe rendering them useless), so the Criminals chose the next best thing and it’s simply a question of the weakest link

Matthias Urlichs • October 28, 2024 1:02 PM

Yeah, Germany is the hard-physical-cash hold-out in Europe.
The reasons are manifold.

Clive Robinson • October 28, 2024 1:15 PM

Cash is king when the lights go out.

As some in the South East of the US will appreciate, whilst credit cards are convenient, they don’t work when there is no power for the machines etc. At which point people if they’ve got it go to cash or they go without the necessities of life.

It’s been a little while since I’ve been to Germany but they and Austria had a

“Cash is normal cards are not view point.”

Which brings us to, cause and effect. The cause is cash is popular, the effect,

“Why Germany? It has more ATMs than other European countries, and—if I read the article right—they have more money in them.”

Kind of “supply and demand” the demand for cash is high therefore the supply has to be consequently higher.

[1] Credit cards against population,

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1425039/biannual-credit-card-count-in-germany/

Harder to read,

https://www.statista.com/topics/1118/credit-cards-in-the-united-states/#topicOverview

But roughly ten times as many cards per head of population as Germany.

buntklicker.de • October 28, 2024 1:50 PM

And German ATMs usually do not have devices that stain (and invalidates) the banknotes in case of a violent event. In other countries, these are much more common.

Daniel Popescu • October 28, 2024 2:42 PM

One solution would possibly be for the cash to self distruct when the ATM is being subjected to certain levels of shockwave pressure :).

Joking aside, it’s a complex issue: probably it could be partially solved by raising the bank’s inssurance premiums against these type of heists and the damage caused to the nearby buildings, changing the related legislation(penal and banking) and lastly, the citizems themselves could start thinking a bit different about their finances.

In a nutshell, risk analysis 😁

Beatrix Willius • October 28, 2024 3:52 PM

This isn’t really new. Buildings with ATMs have been closed during the night for the last 2-3 years now so that they can’t be blown up.

Jan Willem • October 28, 2024 5:46 PM

There is another reason. Most ATM robbers in Germany (and now as well in France and Belgium) are originating from the Netherlands, where they were a real plaque with a lot of completely damaged ATM’s. However the ATM’s in the Netherlands are now much better protected. After an explosion the money is left worthless, due to glue and paint. So the robbers are now taking their chance in Germany. They drive expensive (mostly stolen or ‘hired’) and extreme fast Audi cars, trying to outrun the police.
But now the German ATM’S get the same protection as the Dutch ones and the robbers move to France and other countries to do their tricks.

Jan Egner • October 28, 2024 5:47 PM

Well, there’s one more reason: for a long time, most German banks didn’t want to invest in deterrent measures (like dye staining the bills on intrusion attempts), until things really got out of hand.
Combined with all the facts the article states, that made (and partially still makes) their ATMs extremely attractive targets for anyone wanting to get rich quick and not minding possible casualties – amongst themselves, and innocent people living upstairs of the ATM.

Jess • October 28, 2024 6:15 PM

Germany is by far the least digitalized country in Europe, and the only country where you cannot expect to pay by card.
It makes sense that they have more ATMs, and that they need to have more cash in each ATM.

Subscribe to comments on this entry