Security Spotlight: A family of thieves, ATM thefts, and more!

A Family of Thieves

The family that steals together, goes to jail together...

In what played out like the plot of a Hollywood movie, a well-organized crime spree spanning more than a decade ended in a 51-count indictment against a family of thieves just days before the statute of limitations ran out. This story isn't fictitious and the names have not been changed to protect the innocent. It's a documentary that began in 1995. The setting: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where an armored car driver was running one of his usual routes. The cast: Archie Cabello, his wife Marian and their son, Vincent. Scene One: Marian meets Archie at a remote location along his route and leaves there with a bag containing more than $150,000, which Archie later told police just "disappeared."

The plot thickens when the couple recruit their son into the family business three years later. Securing employment as a vault clerk for an armored car company, Vincent was robbed one night while on duty - by his dad (disguised as a thief). Dear old dad got away with $730,000 in cash. Over the course of the next seven years, the family moved their business to a new location where Archie and Vincent went to work for security or delivery companies. In December 2005 the family staged the "big one" - an armored car heist netting them $3 million in hundred-dollar bills. That heist drew the attention of local authorities and FBI investigators whose suspicions were raised when they began to piece together the Cabello's family history. In a joint investigation between the FBI and the IRS, the authorities began tracking the family's spending habits. They were spending thousands more than the income reflected on their tax returns. The indictment was issued in December 2010 at which time Archie, Marian and Vincent were released pending trial (with some shiny new ankle bracelets as tokens of their alleged crimes). While on pre-trial release, Vincent wised up and began taking steps to turn his life around. One of those was to cooperate with the investigation. He led the authorities to nearly $2 million stashed in a well-hidden safe deposit box, which helped the prosecution seal their case against the family.

In March 2013, a judge sentenced Archie Cabello to 20 years in federal prison, and Marian and Vincent to 15-month sentences respectively. The family was ordered to pay restitution of nearly $4 million to the victims of the thefts. Read about this elaborate crime spree in the FBI's two-part series at Family of Thieves, Part 1 and Family of Thieves, Part 2.

Check our Bank Robbery page for photos and information on the latest robbery suspects. There are 48 unknown bank bandits featured in our suspects gallery for June!

Like our dynamic duo featured above, most bandits wear sunglasses or hats to disguise their appearance. Enforcing a no hats, hoods and sunglasses policy could help reduce the number of bandits who target your bank. Purchase No Hat Cling signs for all of your branches from the Banker Store.

ATMs and Vaults: Outside Bank Jobs

Violent incident at the ATM -

In Colorado Springs, CO, ATM robberies are on the rise with six reported incidents recently. The latest occurred on July 27. A woman who had used an ATM was already in her car when a man busted out her rear passenger window, leaned inside the car and pointed a handgun at her. She accelerated and began swerving the vehicle until the would-be thief finally fell off and ran away. Local authorities have issued warnings to residents to use ATMs inside businesses and, if that is not possible, to be aware of any suspicious people or activity in the area when using an outside ATM.

This incident is a reminder to staff to check your ATMs for security and to pass along consumer ATM safety tips, such as adequate lighting, no bushes obstructing the view or for someone to hide in, clear access to and from the ATM, etc.

False alarm at the ATM -

In Smyrna, DE, a woman reported to local authorities that she had withdrawn $700 from an ATM and that a man stole the money from her at 2 a.m. and allegedly fled in a car. This story is fiction. Turns out the woman never made a withdrawal but actually made up the entire tale. She was arrested for filing a false report. Was she not thinking the police would check the ATM records? We can only assume she felt the bank would handle this as an unauthorized Reg E claim, not realizing the bank would verify her claim as they did.

Smash and Grab -

Thieves have been known to break a showcase window and grab what was inside, like the guy featured in one of our July Facebook posts. In some previously reported cases, convenience stores that closed at night were having their ATMs stolen by thieves who would ram a truck through the glass front and tilt the ATM onto a truck or tie a chain to it and haul it off. We haven't heard too many of those stories lately but now, in New York, there are reports of smash and grab thefts on a new level.

In Queens, at about 3:15A a.m., a backhoe was stolen from a construction site near a Chase branch. Thieves used the backhoe to bust out an ATM from the branch. In this case it wasn't clear there was money the crooks could access from the ATM. But in many of these cases, the ATM costs more than the cash inside it.

Police are not sure yet if there is a connection to the Chase ATM theft, but there is a rash of thefts like this happening in the area.

Two days earlier, two men used a tow truck and tried to steal an ATM from a TD Bank lobby but the chain they were using broke and the men fled, leaving behind what was probably some costly damage. In May, thieves pulled the door off an ATM at a local gas station using a car. They were able to access the cash inside. A few days before that incident, thieves used a van and a crow bar to remove an ATM from a grocery store. The week before that, the driver of a black SUV reportedly rammed an ATM. It was found on its side. And in April, $7,200 was stolen from an ATM but how the suspects got into the machine remains unclear.

ATM thefts don't just happen in New York. In Louisville, KY, Jeremy Knighton was arrested for three attempted robberies at a drive-up ATM. Surveillance cameras show him approaching cars as they drove up to the ATM. He would approach the driver's side or the passenger side, especially if any windows were down. As in this case, ATM thefts are not always successful but again they serve as reminders to pass along ATM safety tips to your customers, cautioning them to be more vigilant late at night and in the early morning hours.

Vault theft -

While the targets might be easier, it isn't just ATMs and ATM customers that get robbed. In Van Buren, AR, thieves punched a hole in the wall at the First Community Bank and used a forklift to remove a two-ton vault from inside. They got away with the vault and $113,000 in cash and checks. The vault was later found. It appears the thieves drilled a hole and then filled it with water (which prevented the cash inside from burning), and used a torch to open the vault. The thieves didn't take all the money - they left $2.00 behind.

Hot Topics from the Bankers' Threads

In the publicly accessible threads, a BOL user is looking for new hire information. There is one available free in the Banker Tools section. Another thread was on employees moving cash between branches. Even if there isn't a law against it, it's a bad idea. Perhaps to reinforce the discussion, a poll was posted to see if some banks would allow this. . Cast your vote before August 22.

Additional discussions on various topics can be found in the Public Security area. When commenting on these discussions, keep in mind this is an unprotected public forum and comments should be limited to generic content.

We also have a "private" security forum for discussion of more private, sensitive topics. That is where security officers were discussing ATM and vault thefts, authentication procedures, DDoS attacks, removing silent alarms, hacks, phishing, and more. Don't miss out on this wealth of knowledge shared by your peers.

To comment in Bankers' Threads you must be a registered user. You can register here. If using your bank email account, you will be given access to the private forums. The Private area is a group of forums under the heading "Private - Financial Institution Personnel Only." The Private forums do not include access to Bankers Hotline or Compliance Action, premium content areas that require paid subscriptions to those respective publications.

If you are already registered for the Threads, but don't yet have access to the private forums, using your bank email address send a request for access to andyz@bankersonline.com. Please verify that you do not yet have Private access. Once your registration request is approved, you can access the Private Security forum here.

July CrimeDex Alerts Heat Up with the Summer

There were over 300 CrimeDex alerts in July, starting with an alert about a bank robber who approached and escaped from a Pennsylvania bank office on foot. That was quickly followed by an alert about a skimming device attached to an ATM vestibule door near San Jose, California. Law enforcement in State College, Pennsylvania, reported on a woman suspect in an ID theft and account takeover netting $9,000 in a half-hour. In mid-month an investigator at a large federal credit union posted photos of female suspects believed to be involved in ATM deposits of fraudulent checks, followed by withdrawals and purchases resulting in losses of over $63,000. And the U.S. Postal Inspection Service contributed a list of bank accounts at Chase, BofA, Wells Fargo, CitiBank, and other banks that were identified as compromised when stolen bank account information was found printed on a cache of printed checks held by two individuals arrested in connection with check frauds in the Pacific Northwest.

Keep up on the latest scams, crimes and other threats facing your bank and other businesses with a free subscription to BOL CrimeDex

CrimeDex is now FREE to registered members of the Bankers' Threads Private Security Forum! Get the details and subscribe now!

Facebook Blog

Did you know that BOL is on Facebook? Social media has replaced blogging to a large degree and this is one more place where we put helpful information that you may want to share with your staff or customers, and can be useful in teaching employees about security issues and more.

July was another busy month for security news. We have some interesting posts on:

• A thief who tried to rob a gun store with a knife and a bat, but his plan backfired.
• A bank robber who thought public transportation was sufficient for his getaway plan.
• Two bank robbers using a takeover technique in the northwest, and the increase in their violent string of robberies.
• Why one man robbed his own credit union.
• What happened when a man wearing a mask for germ protection was thought to be a robber, resulting in a call to the local police.

Read about these topics and more on our Facebook page. Be sure to "like" the articles so we can continue to post more articles of interest to you!