Security Spotlight: Bandits in disguise, "real-life" training scenarios, and more!

Unmasked and Unwitting

Masked his identity...

On September 11th in Merrimack, NH tellers at the Bank of America were paid a "presidential visit" by a bandit wearing a full-face President Obama mask and carrying a Walmart shopping bag. John Griffin Jr., 52, approached a teller wearing a mask depicting our nation's leader and a suit coat with a tie, jeans and gloves. Griffin demanded money from a teller and left with an undetermined amount of cash. Witness accounts pointed officers in the direction the masked man fled where a man matching the bandit's description (sans the mask) was spotted coming from behind a nearby business fifteen minutes after the robbery. When they took the suspect into custody he was carrying a loaded semi-automatic handgun. During his arraignment, Griffin said he didn't consider himself a dangerous person and that he "certainly don't mean anybody any harm." Interestingly, this heist occurred two years, almost to the day, from the September 8, 2011, robbery at Michigan Bank and Trust in Tekonsha, MI during which the suspect wore an Obama mask (to our knowledge, that masked man was never caught).

Left a key piece of evidence...

It is often said that the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry. Andrew Frank Laviguer, 57, might have gotten away with robbing the Wells Fargo bank in Portland, Oregon if he hadn't left behind not only a key piece of evidence but the key to his getaway. Holding a gun on bank staff, Laviguer demanded cash and fled the bank with his loot. As he hopped into his getaway car and proceeded to escape, he quickly realized he left his car keys inside the bank. He went back to retrieve his keys only to discover bank staff had locked the doors, so he ducked into a nearby office building. In an attempt to divert officers searching the area for him, he scattered cash around, forcing the evacuation of the building. With the help of multiple witnesses, Laviguer was arrested nearby still carrying his weapon - a toy gun. Laviguer is suspected of robbing five other banks in Oregon and Washington. He was detained at the Multnomah County Jail in Portland on a previous arrest warrant while awaiting charges from both Oregon and Washington for robberies in both states. Federal charges by the U.S. Attorney are being considered.

Check our Bank Robbery page for photos and information on the latest robbery suspects. There are 33 unknown bank bandits featured in our suspects gallery for September!

Not only are masks more popular as Halloween nears, but hats and hoodies become seasonal wear this time of year. Enforce a no hats, hoods and sunglasses policy to help reduce the number of bandits who target your bank. Purchase No Hat Cling signs for all of your branches from the Banker Store.

Equal Opportunity Career and a New Crime Initiative

Burka Bank Robbery -

Today many communities include members from various cultures. Banks need to be sensitive to the backgrounds of all their customers, especially those who practice customs that your employees may be unfamiliar with. Even though you may have "No Hats, No Hoods" signs in your branches, there may be some customers who wear a burka (a full body cloak) or head scarf for religious reasons. Obviously, these customers can be hard to identify. Even during October when masks and costumes are donned by Halloween revelers, you can't require someone to remove their religious garb.

What happens when what appears to be a burka-wearing customer attempts to rob you? It may not happen often, but it happened recently in San Diego. Elysia Maria Roiz was arrested for allegedly attempting to rob a Wells Fargo Bank on August 1st while wearing a burka. When Roiz handed the teller a demand note, that teller and another hid from the suspect, who then left after a few minutes. You can view the local news report and surveillance video. In a joint effort with Baja State Police, authorities apprehended Roiz in Tijuana on September 27th. BOL Guru Hussam Al-Abed of Amman, Jordan offers some tips for verifying customer identity Beyond the Veil.

Bank robbery not for men only -

While the majority of bank robbers are men, women rob banks too. In Essex, MD three women teamed up to rob the Baltimore County Savings Bank on September 27th. With a description of the getaway car, police were able to stop and arrest Ashley Fitz, 22, Czekiah Fludd, 24, and Alexis Chandler, 19, just a short distance from the bank. Police are investigating the trio's possible involvement in other heists while the women try to raise $350,000 bail.

And northwest of Omaha, NE in Fremont, 19-year-old Kimberly Babbitt is facing two counts of robbery. Formerly from Fremont, Babbitt moved to Omaha. She returned to her former hometown, entered the Fremont bank at approximately 10 am Saturday, September 28th and demanded money from two bank employees. She fled on foot and was apprehended by police the following Monday.

It's a man! It's a woman! It's a bank robber! - On September 27th an Arvest Bank in Norman, OK was robbed by what appeared to be a woman but is believed to be a man dressed as a woman. The cross-dressing bandit, wearing a blond wig, red lipstick, and sunglasses and carrying a purse, passed a demand note to the teller indicating he/she was armed. The teller complied, gave the thief some money, and the suspect fled on foot.

FDIC vs. Failed Bank Officers -

The FDIC, which is often appointed as receiver for failed banks, reports 51 banks closed in 2012 and 22 banks failed to date this year. When Macon-based Security Bank was shut down in 2009, the FDIC estimates its losses due to the bank's closure to be $358.9 million. The agency has filed a lawsuit against 16 former Security Bank officers and directors in an effort to recover at least $21.76 million of those losses. The FDIC asserts in its claim that the defendants named in the suit were negligent in their legal duties when they improperly approved seven commercial real estate and construction loans and three lines of credit that contributed to the bank's failure. Similar claims previously brought by the FDIC have been rejected by courts across the country. In this case, the FDIC has requested a jury trial.

No separation of government and state -

The FBI is joining forces with state government agencies to fight the war on Internet crime. The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) and the state of Utah have kicked off a pilot program that will focus on establishing a model for sharing information and coordinating investigations between the Bureau and state and local agencies. Based on the initial results of the Utah pilot, the FBI plans to expand the program to other states. Read more about the new initiative at FBI.gov.

Hot Topics from the Bankers' Threads

In the publicly accessible threads one banker was looking for new ways to train staff about security. Read suggestions shared by your peers and if you have some of your own, pass them along on this Annual Security Training thread. Security officers were also discussing what you can do, must do and should not do when you detect counterfeit currency. There aren't second chances in this area, so learn about it before you have to deal with this situation.

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 have been discussing validating Social Security numbers, names on name tags, who the Security Officer works for, secure authentication, additional discussion on counterfeits, 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.

BOL Crimedex

BOL CrimeDex Alerts Full of Training Examples

September's BOL CrimeDex alerts provided a great collection of new incident reports that can be used as real-life examples in your institution's security training sessions. Early in the month a North Carolina county sheriff posted an alert about an apparent example of "necrolarcency." A family reported that it received a statement for a new bank account in the name of a family member who died six years ago. Could the bank that opened the account have missed a flag in its CIP verifications steps warning that the woman whose name that would appear on the account had died? The U.S. Secret Service has reported an arrest in a fraudulent credit card scheme in which several bank tellers were duped into force-authorized cash advances when the woman wielding the card talked the tellers into talking with the "card issuers" using the thief's cell phone. Those transactions and several fraudulent purchases with the stolen card resulted in a loss for the card issuer of over $206,000. And finally, an Oklahoma bank reported that a trio of fraud artists had attempted a series of phony "cash-back" transactions through a legitimate customer's account, using forged or counterfeit checks on another bank.

Each month's BOL CrimeDex alerts can provide your financial institution with fresh examples of crimes that can be used to bring reality to security training presentations.

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

Facebook Blog

Have you been following us on Facebook? Throughout the month, we share news related incidents that can be informative examples for training employees on security issues and more.

A televised plea for help from the FBI resulted in the successful apprehension of a serial bandit who allegedly robbed ten banks in five states in a three month period. Get the details and link to the news story from our September 13th post. What happens when employees who may be gun-shy from a previous robbery mistake an employee for a bank robber? Read our September 29th post to find out. This is one for your next security training session.

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!